Born in 1946, Marilyn Nelson is the author of many books of verse and translations, and in 2013 was elected a Chancellor of the Academy of American Poets... More >
Want more poems?Subscribe to ourPoem-A-Day emails.
Thank you for these tiny
particles of ocean salt,
pearl-necklace viruses,
winged protozoans:
for the infinite,
intricate shapes
of submicroscopic
living things.
For algae spores
and fungus spores,
bonded by vital
mutual genetic cooperation,
spreading their
inseparable lives
from equator to pole.
My hand, my arm,
make sweeping circles.
Dust climbs the ladder of light.
For this infernal, endless chore,
for these eternal seeds of rain:
Thank you. For dust.