Overburden

My heart is heavy.

I marvel at this

rock of ages, eternity even

strip mined

for what’s stuck beneath

the surface.

All this runoff

just so I could,

baring it all

and laying it to waste

water, tears a by-product

of a cold coal

carbon-copy

of once-living

matter

stratified plants,

and these dinosaur’s bones

as layer

upon stinking layer,

the fecal fecundity

of fickle feelings

fossilized:

compacted

impacted

though it seems

as if it doesn’t

matter,

and we may not see

the error of our ways

for years to come.

The hardness,

burning hot and dirty

so close to beauty

can’t see

for buried too deep.

Time and pressure,

like Superman,

taken in his hands

to make a diamond

out of me.