This Shrivelled Paper

Erased & engraved,
Over & over,
On this shriveled paper,
Words,
Like soft fire in the rain,
That blazed, burned & was extinguished,
Like life of ages gone by,
That was celebrated but was bundled into dark secrets,
Like the prayer on the lips,
That reverberated but was silenced in the winds,
These old etchings are forgotten,
Like the mother who brought us all,
& as we blissfully pass through time,
That carries the yoke & the yore,
The universal clock, embittered,
Laughed at us in pity,
Aware,
That the first womb once existed,
That the first story was once scribbled.