Earth Song

Earth Song

They call me sod
loam, dirt
clay, turf, dust.

In cahoots with rain, rocks and roots
worms and grubs
perforated by ants and moles
aquifers and oil

veined with lead, copper, gold
and hiding diamonds and coal
cables, wires and pipes

I hold your huts and your tents
your houses and barns
anchor your bridges, apartments and high-rises.

In beds below rivers
lakes and oceans
I slumber.
In the open I bask in sun’s warmth
sprout and nourish your food.

Sometimes I seizure
shudder and quake
vomit magma
belch steam and ash

or slump and ooze
tongues of brown porridge
smothering your villages and roads
in mud.

But mostly I am solid and safe
keeping you upright
with my mysterious magnetic powers.

Feed me wisely
for I ingest
without discrimination

and someday soon
you will join me.
I will reclaim you.
You will again
become mine.

© 2014 by Violet Nesdoly (All rights reserved)

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Humans have a deep and abiding relationship with earth. Our bodies consist of elements common to earth. The Genesis account of creation has God forming man from the dust of the earth (Genesis 2:7).

This poem ends with my tip-of-the-hat to what will happen someday to each of us—our bodies will return to the dust.* However, to clarify, I believe that the soul inside each of us lives on; even death cannot extinguish God’s “breath of life” that makes us living beings.

(*God’s words to Adam in Genesis: “In the sweat of your face you shall eat bread / Till you return to the ground, / For out of it you were taken; / For dust you are, / And to dust you shall return” – Genesis 3:19.)