Hail, bright crescent, scything through winter’s last
snowfall, lying frosty-white on hard earth.
Though north wind may not have one more blast,
nothing can she do to cease soil’s birth:
bacteria and mycorrhizoids bloom
to feed in turn both nematode and slug.
Blind earthworm in her blind tunnels of gloom
loosens frozen soil for mole and bug.
Beetles birth from galls, boletus from spores,
and grasses spread from roots among fragmented rocks.
These draw dead minerals through secret doors.
Natural enzymes each molecule unlocks
to transform plain matter to something more
lively and vibrant than it was before.
