finding

finding 
it’s not so easy a matter as

clattering about in a box

           taken down only

           when mystery elbows

           curiosity into action
you have to want to dig

             deep 

cutting through roots thick and ancient
a lifetime of dirt hauled to the surface 

to be sifted by others
hands bloodied inevitably

an ache that will not subside 

whether you unearth

yourself or not
most likely you will 

     (in the end

invent sense for clues

that make none
             alone

hoarding youthful trinkets 

rewriting history 

for the unsmiling 
(c) 2017 Fred Whitehead