Life Gazing

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ICE GROTTOS


GROTTO

noun | /ˈɡrädō/


ELEMENTS & TEMPORAL CYCLES
 

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One and a half billion years ago,
magma cooled


structuring
[verb: to arrange | 1. the arrangement between parts of something complex]


 a bed
of quartz monzonite
fire -> rock
glittering boudoir undisturbed
 

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15,ooo years ago,
the glacier began to melt
sending its waters


coursing
[verb: to pursue | 1. the sport of hunting game animals]


boulders and sediments


scouring
[verb: move rapidly | 1. to clean or brighten something by rubbing it hard | 2. to subject a place to thorough invesitagation in order to locate something]


into the rock bed
ice -> water
 

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Water is a pilgrim
in the night
searching for a place
to rest
 

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One month ago,
my breath caught in the chambers
cooled to clouds
when the outside world ran rivulets
under a hot sun


water stays here
rests a while
as ice
but will move on
when spring knocks
on the door of rocks

water -> ice
 

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It is exquisite to observe
the way a billion-year-old-rock


cradles
[noun & verb: to hold | 1. the bed of an infant | 2. to hold protectively]


something as ephemeral
as seasonal ice
 

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