Swimming in its world of amber
The long-legged fly can still remember
The burning heat
Of the sun in the Eocene
From its golden sea, this fly has seen
The dance of continents, the rise and fall
Of all ten thousand things
Upon our planet.
In the many facets of its eyes
Seas have filled with water, deepened, dried,
Mountain ranges risen, crumbled.
This fly has seen the centaur and the unicorn
And the first Neanderthal.
Nations, empires passed before it,
Wave after wave in quick succession.
This fly was in its amber when
King Cheops built his pyramid
And Roman Caesar conquered Gaul.
Now with this ancient creature in my palm
I am become
The green flash of the setting sun.
Pete Crowther
http://www.poemhunter.com/poem/a-fly-in-amber/
