Ambered Strata

Dust settles into the deep grooves of an abacus, coating each wooden bead like fine silt on a riverbed. A fingernail scrapes against the surface, catching on a fossilized imprint left by some long-forgotten repair within the grain. These calcified layers suggest that every mend builds its own geology, stacking new scars atop old wounds until stability becomes nothing more than a slow accumulation of previous ruptures. The cool weight of the wood remains steady in hand, finally settling into a quiet, singular stillness.