Tossed Treasure Poem by Patti Masterman

In the bag of little river pebbles
Was a thin sliver of ragged glass.
It was merely a bit of glass
Got into the aggregate separator,
Someone explained helpfully.

I tossed it away then, still unaware
Of the miracle of holding a centuries old,
Odd, small piece of glass in my hand,
Dredged from some long extinct river-bottom
That could only whisper stories
That had no tongues left to tell;
And above that, the miracle of finding
Any human particulate matter there at all.