A Mineral
A mineral is a wondrous thing,
At least it is to me,
For in its ordered structure,
Lies a world of mystery.
The secrets that it has withheld,
For countless ages past,
And clung to most tenaciously,
Are being learned at last.
Each year using new techniques,
Or with a new device,
We make our knowledge more complete,
Our data more precise.
But let us not in trying to solve,
A mineral mystery,
Forget that minerals are a part,
Of natural history.
Nor in our quest for more detail,
When probing an unknown,
Forget that every mineral,
Has a beauty of its own.
With progress in technology,
Each year see new machines,
That try to copy nature,
By sophisticated means.
But for all those modern methods,
We cannot yet compete,
With the world of ordered beauty,
That lies beneath our feet.
Author unknown
Via Rockhound Record, 9/84
Via Rockhound Gazette, 3/06