Tiny Plants

Tiny Plants
Betsy McKenzie

God be praised
For the intricate carpet of
Tiny plants beneath our feet.
Weaving their shallow roots
Tightly into firm mats.
Unregarded, lower than the grass,
Low forbs and tiny flowers
Netting sand and soil,
Slowly catching, holding layers of compost
Beneath their taller cousins.
Tiny stars, white and palest blue
Shining in dim mosses.
Twining stems, trailing over-land;
And where they touch soil, rootlets grow:
Magic among the grass.

February 3, 2006