Naracoorte

By Zach Sepulveda
Colorado Springs Mineralogical Society
Earth Science Scholars Program

As I sit atop my bed of bones,

the wind outside - it screams and moans.
Deep within my cave of dreams,
nothing's ever what it seems.

I question if I truly know my home.

I wonder at what horrors lie beyond my walls of stone.
It comes upon me without warning, and fills my heart with dread,
a violent, shocking acquiescence that I might join this bed.

To join the leagues of broken souls
who live forever as forgotten bones.
Lost inside, they seek themselves,
wandering forever in this labyrinth of stone.

I'll go to dust as everything must.
I'll fade away in time.
But for now I refuse to waste away
and attempt to make the climb.




Art by © Zach Sepulveda December 2912.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Note: Naracoorte Caves National Park is South Australia's only World Heritage site. The site was recognized in 1994 due to the importance of the fossils found in the caves. The park is has over 100 known fossil deposits, preserving the bones of Pleistocene megafauna that became extinct roughly 60,000 years ago. Naracoorte Caves preserves Australia's most complete fossil record for the past 500,000 years.

Author Bio: Zach recently moved to the Pikes Peak region from San Diego, CA. He became interested in paleontology by visiting the La Brea Tar Pits in Los Angeles as often as he could. He is a junior member of the Colorado Springs Mineralogical Society and is part of the Pikes Peak Pebble Pups Earth Science Scholars Program. Zach is 15 years old and is in 10th grade at Palmer Ridge High School in Monument, Colorado.