Long Lost Last Ditch

It was never surrender.
It was more like a salvage
Attempt, archaeology

Ahead of the office park,
The interstate, the pipeline
That had been put off and stalled

By litigation as long
As limited resources
Allowed resistance. No hoard

Of stunning finds or fossils—
Or anything valuable—
Turned up, thanks to that rushed dig,

But something came out of it,
This life probably better
At working to remember.