To metals and life
Metal is different. Old and steady
Brought to the sunlight by men and by mountains
Now it makes car parts, bridges and buildings
In some long years it will rust or decay
Then it will move to life’s magic transactions
Iron for blood cells, copper for hair
A tiny compass for migrating creatures
Metal has special attractive ways
For eons it can cycle now, from living to clay, and back
Until some day the whole arrangement,
forest, soil, rocks and trees
Goes the way of all good land, and slides beneath the sea