(image: gold-miners in Colorado)
*
*
*
*
Abandoned Gold Mine
*
In the mine, looking at gray
mud-and-stone leaking water,
you realize the folly of digging
a hole in a mountain and hoping
the hole will suspend the mountain
above you. You look at rusted
iron tracks and the one ore-core
no one stole yet. This is a morose,
dank space--an intrusion, a bad idea,
but, Oh Lord, a product of long hard
labor. In the mine, you see evidence
of work, engineering, zeal, folly, ingenuity,
and mystery. You, too, want to stay
longer than you should--imagining;
listening to granite, diorite, and quartz
mutter. What you don't see is evidence
of wealth, which was created by what
was extracted but not for ones who
extracted. The air you breathe is bad.
*
Copyright 2009 Hans Ostrom
