Archaeology

Archaeology

Flint arrowheads

a War of 1812 uniform button

and metal Cola bottle tops

…and my hands

sifting moist soil

Today is a dream

fading into obscurity

A century or more ago

my present reality

and I savor my finds

…even the bottle tops

Somehow, subdivision graders

their engines grinding in the heat

mixed the newer with the old

before the split-levels rose en masse

I read a history book

that said the Battle of Lundy’s Lane

(now a hotel, motel, strip-mall mecca)

not far from the Casino in Niagara Falls

was an especially brutal battle

men dying and crying

for drink to satisfy thirst

I turn the Cola tops

through my fingers

the soldiers’ relief

so near and yet

so far