Stone Witness
A headlamp reveals dust swirling above shale, illuminating footprints subtly overlaid by those that followed; no trace is truly lost, only incorporated. The stone itself feels firm under hand, holding echoes of pressure distributed across immense spans of time. Each impression modifies what comes next, suggesting influence rather than a singular cause—a history not as a clear sequence but as interwoven strata. Recognizing this accumulation within the leather-like surface offered a quiet understanding: the past doesn’t vanish, it reshapes the present.