Forest Floor

The ground of our being. Our nourishment.
Mineral mother, cellular energy vibrating beyond our perception,
breaking down and regenerating into soil, humus, earth
(sometimes we call you dirt!),
unseeable mineral source of life.
Somehow we all return to you, rely on you,
home of bugs and grubs and creepers,
lichen and moss and old stuff and new,
life forms of tomorrow, and ancient ones,
forming themselves like clay within you,
spontaneously whirling into being,
source and resource, first place and last.



Annelinde Metzner
July 1990 from "Voices of Gaia"