Sacred to the Memory of William Walker Who Was Drowned While Crossing the Aoreke River, February 6th, 1857 Aged 16 Years And 10 Months

Billions of years ago began
About a century ago.
By the time I was twenty five
I could drive a fossil-fueled car

Through the mountains of Wyoming
And stop to read the brass-screwed plates
Identifying formations
Hundreds and billions of years old.

This is not perspective we've gained,
No more than we get from the stars.
As soon as one begins to plan
One starts to plan what could go wrong,

As if what one did mattered to dust
That cannot comprehend being
Dust comprehending dust as dust.
At best we grasp our epitaphs.