<html><head><meta http-equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html; charset=us-ascii"></head><body style="word-wrap: break-word; -webkit-nbsp-mode: space; line-break: after-white-space;" class=""><div style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;" class="">Cave Painting At Font du Gaume</div><div style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; min-height: 13px;" class=""><br class=""></div><div style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;" class="">Of course, even his bones</div><div style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;" class="">are now dust,</div><div style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;" class="">his flowing mane</div><div style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;" class="">taken by the wind,</div><div style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;" class="">those sturdy hooves</div><div style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;" class="">and solid flesh consumed</div><div style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;" class="">and reborn in endless forms.</div><div style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; min-height: 13px;" class=""><br class=""></div><div style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;" class="">Even so, through two hundred centuries</div><div style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;" class="">of darkness and lamplight</div><div style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;" class="">he is still running free</div><div style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;" class="">across that vast savannah of time.</div><div style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; min-height: 13px;" class=""><br class=""></div><div style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;" class="">And the hand that captured,</div><div style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;" class="">in a few spare lines</div><div style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;" class="">on the limestone wall,</div><div style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;" class="">that wild grace,</div><div style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;" class="">sending it down through the years -</div><div style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;" class="">hand of my ancestor,</div><div style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;" class="">hand of our ancestor -</div><div style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;" class="">has long since returned</div><div style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;" class="">to the formless.</div><div style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; min-height: 13px;" class=""><br class=""></div><div style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;" class="">A day will come,</div><div style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;" class="">certainly,</div><div style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;" class="">when all this</div><div style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;" class="">will be gone:</div><div style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;" class="">you and I,</div><div style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;" class="">the painting,</div><div style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;" class="">even the wall,</div><div style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;" class="">carved by ages of</div><div style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;" class="">drip and flow,</div><div style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;" class="">through uplifted memories</div><div style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;" class="">of countless tiny beings</div><div style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;" class="">who spent their short lives</div><div style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;" class="">in that primordial sea.</div><div style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; min-height: 13px;" class=""><br class=""></div><div style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;" class="">And yet this beauty -</div><div style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;" class="">this grace -</div><div style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;" class="">offers itself to us</div><div style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;" class="">in this moment,</div><div style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;" class="">the only time we have.</div><div style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; min-height: 13px;" class=""><br class=""></div><div style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;" class=""><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space:pre"> </span>- Larry Robinson</div><div class=""><img apple-inline="yes" id="3CBB7494-13E5-49CC-AE16-278DC1F08AB4" src="cid:630DECDB-5694-4E2F-8B50-284DA6FF54D7@gateway.sonic.net" class=""></div></body></html>