Wednesday, April 13, 2022

Groundbreaking

 

GROUNDBREAKING

Mary, Mary, quite contrary,
How does your garden grow?
With silver bells and cockle shells
And pretty maids all in a row.

Mary, Mary, now organic,
What’s in your garden soil?
A humble creature, long and thin
Not asking much as it toils.

Mary, Mary, worms are essential,
Their tunnels aerate the earth.
They mix soil layers, help decompose:
They make the terra less firma.


© Mary Lee Hahn, 2022


I love earthworms. They are amazing creatures who do such essential and often overlooked work.

Yesterday was one of those after-a-day-of-rain spring mornings when the sidewalks were covered with worms. I must have tossed two dozen back into the grass during my walk. 

There's an excellent chapter on soil in ALL WE CAN SAVE: "Solutions Underfoot," by Jane Zelikova.

3 comments:

  1. This cracked me up; the residents of my worm bin are greatly impressed to be the topic of a poem!

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  2. Wishing I could share we had worms, too, yet I know they'll show up. They are there! I shared this to you on FB, too. My class was in charge of the worm bin for our school garden, fascinating to watch them do their thing!

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  3. Mary is so wise here! Updated Mary! Completely fun and wants to be painted on a worm bin. (Back when I applied for my first job, I wrote about the worm bin I'd brought in as a student teacher...) This collection is an important one.

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