the fossil record

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Archeology

Wraps of memory bind

the image and the fact,

so I am not sure but think

it was a woman, a small one,

in her mummy case.

How she found her way

to Pittsfield is lost to me,

but I saw her there

among the plaster

of the mock belvedere.

I sort of grew up with her

and the "Discus Thrower"

and "Winged Victory"

introduced by my father

in the museum, the second floor

where a fountain gurgled.

He lifted me to gaze

on her bound face,

and I grew to gaze

at all her windings

even where they unraveled

leaving bare one brown toe

just like mine when I waded

in the muddy Housatonic.

That toe, too like my own,

hinted at things

I did not wish to know,

so I waited some years

when our footing was less equal

to renew again our acquaintance

in the museum on the second floor

where the fountain still gurgled.

Lou Masson