The watchman walks his perimeter beat
Boots crush shale in rhythmic feet
His Maglite cuts the gloaming air
A spectral root seeking repair
Gravel drinks the white LED
Silicate and photon wed
No chloroplast but still it feeds
On mineral and dormant seeds
Lichen wakes on limestone wall
Crustose green answers the call
The beam traces each thallus edge
A slow photosynthesis pledge
Gravel drinks the white LED
Silicate and photon wed
No chloroplast but still it feeds
On mineral and dormant seeds
Quartzite winks at six-fifty nan
The watchman pauses, shifts his scan
Beam holds steady on mica flake
For thirty seconds, give or take
Patient as a taproot deep
Where seconds stretch and hours sleep
The light transfers its energy
To stone's slow chemistry
Gravel drinks the white LED
Silicate and photon wed
No chloroplast but still it feeds
On mineral and dormant seeds
Shift ends slow at five AM
Dew forms on each crystal gem
The flashlight clicks to off position
Ends the brief photosynthesis
Gravel drinks the white LED
Silicate and photon wed
No chloroplast but still it feeds
On mineral and dormant seeds
Stone remembers what light needs
Stone remembers what light needs
Rootless light in gravel bed
