Have You Ever Really Thought?

by Candy

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You wash it out of your children's clothes. Pets track it in on their feet. It is swept out, vacuumed up, shoveled, raked, hoed, planted in and built upon. We take it for granted. It is the foundation for our sidewalks, roads and buildings. We either curse it or praise it as we labor to plant our gardens.

But have you ever really thought about soil as an identity? Soil gives us a sense of place. As much as the shape of the land, from flat to hilly, the soil is the skin of the earth.

When you were a child at play, did you play in the dirt? Did you make mud pies or construct roads and tunnels? Think back to the earth of your childhood. Was it tan, brown or sprinkled with pebbles? Was it aflame with orange or red clay? Was it fertile black loam? Was it sandy or rocky or damp or cracked from thirst? Was it soft top soil or the hardest of clay?

Sit again, for a moment, as a child, and remember. Examine the soil of your childhood. It will take you back.

The cracks formed by drying mud.

The long shadows of a sunset on sand dunes.

The artistry of rocks jutting out, casting shadows.

The lush, green aroma of abundant vegetation.

The muddy ripples left by a rainstorm.

~~~~~~~~~~The skin of the earth, the soul of the land~~~~~~~~~~

A mosaic of pebbles.

A bold sculpture of rocks.

A watercolor of sandstone.

A bayou of swamp.

A drift of sand.

Cherish the earth.

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Written by Candy
Nov. 2002