Muddy clay half fluid
Smelling faintly of watery origins
Goes to the fire comes back a stone
The magic of the Metamorph Vitrification
Filmed with sand paste
Goes again to the fire
Comes back a gleaming jewel
Whose form and color
Will last ten thousand years

Stewart McKenzie

http://www.poemhunter.com/poem/landscape-11-mud-metamorphoses/