In Praise of Dirt by Rebecca Gilbert

Beneath our notice, background, base -
primal field, the force that molds us;
this planet's still our refuge place -
gravity still hugs and holds us.

We occupy the middle ground,
between the sky and living earth;
both large and small, the patterns found
reflect their edgy, spiral birth.

Space-wide, great galaxies unfurled;
uncounted stars like grains of sand...
and our enormous little world -
a mere blue speck of fertile land.

Between two particles of soil,
small invisible relations
rise and fall, feast, party and toil -
complex cultures, cities, nations...

Slow dancing in the world's embrace,
entwined with what we hold most dear -
when all is gone without a trace,
the soil will know that we were here

Each bite, each breath, each word we say
is an exchange, a worldly trade;
fresh starlight mixed with common clay -
that's how the human heart is made...

It's light that guides us when we roam,
and dirt's true love that calls us home.

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Rebecca Randall Gilbert discovered her love of foraging at age six when she spent the summer with her grandmother in Martha's Vineyard island, Massachusetts. She has been exploring the subject—and grazing on the same farm—ever since. She teaches a variety of rural skills at Native Earth Teaching Farm, which she and her husband opened to the public in 2002.

Reposted from June 14, 2015.