Fossil, 1919
by Janet Lewis                                                                          


reading by Carole Heine


reading by Donna Emory


I found a little ancient fern


Closed in a reddish shale concretion,                                   
As neatly and as charmingly set in


As my grandmother’s face


In a round apricot velvet case.



Fossil, 1975
by Janet Lewis



reading by Donna Emory


Changed and not changed. Three million years.

This sunlight-summoned little fern


Closed in a cenotaph of silt


Lies in my hand, secret and safe.

In quiet dark transformed to stone,


Cell after cell to crystal grown,


The pattern stays, the substance gone.

Changed and not changed. Three million years.

The Spirit, ranging as it will,

In sun, in darkness, lives in change.

Changed and not changed. The spirit hears

In drifting fern the morning air.

Morning Hue Buried Fossil White Oak
oil on canvas
81 x 12”
2018
In Private Collection