Uploaded October 2024 | Updated September 2026, 2 weeks ago

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3 The Ancient Forest

Holbrook, Navajo, Route 66
East bound and down, with Gallop just ahead,
We have a choice of Painted Desert,
Taking Petrified Forest in its stead.

The road wasn’t paved yet,
It was a dry and dusty track,
And they made you buy a ticket,
To see the attractions in the back.

Something about minerals,
Seeping mud into the wood.
Several million years and counting,
Is the part I understood.

In the lobby was a giant polished stump,
That looked forever like a tree,
It shined hard until it sparkled,
Is the thing that troubled me.

The man said it was an Ancient Forest,
Turning slowly into stone,
And it was bad luck to pick things up,
Even worse to take them home.

But in the gift shop I had questions,
About the rocks up on the shelf,
Why could I buy these rocks now,
But never pick them up myself.

It was an Ancient Ancient Forest,
Turned to stone and quite transfixed,
I wonder what it looks like now,
Between Holbrook and Navajo in 1956.