Prelude to Black Diamonds

Singers of songs .
Tracers of the stars .
Plotters of the universe . .
Masters . . critics .
Keepers of the keys . . .
And you who hold judgment .


Listen!



Here is the beginning .
Here are the virgin trails of the eons .
Here are the fossilized skeletons
of Paleozoic yesterday
and the day before .
Here is the flash of an instant
etched on the tape of eternity .
Here are the aged memoirs
of a few score million years
translated from boulder braille
on the sable pages of antiquity . . .
Here is the echo of that rumbling thunder
from the dazzling flashes of blue-green lightning
that seared the fantastic jungles of yesterday . . .



Grotesque jungles .
Luxuriant vegetation of strange species….
Ancient . . . majestic . . . gargantuan . . .
Laden with club mosses . . .


And the Earth, caught in this
kaleidoscope of sparkling nebulae,
pulled into its throbbing bosom
a deluge of swirling stars ….


White-hot stars
that vanished into oblivion .


Perished and cooled in the oozing bogs
of the primitive swamp lilies . . .



Glittering, golden comets
and flashing meteorites
that churned the Milky Way
into a spangled galaxy
of tangled rainbows.



So the trembling Earth, revolving through
this grandeur of dancing firmament,
embraced for posterity
a colossal jewel of ebony
cast in the rock-bound dies
of primeval yesteryear.


And the startled Earth,
witnessing the birth of this
carboniferous wonderland,
paused for a split-eon moment
to trellis this celestial beauty
through the rocky lattice work
of the ages.


Singers of America,
let me salute you . ..


Literature of America,
let me challenge you to listen . .


Listen to the melodies
of hammered steel
echo from the pits of perpetual midnight


Singers of songs .
Tracers of the stars .
Plotters of the universe ..
Masters ... critics .. .
Keepers of the keys .. .
And you who hold judgment .. .


Here is the beginning!



Here is the vast expanse of virgin trails,
untrodden ….
Here are the songs of a coal-miner ….