Soil is the mixture of minerals, organic matter, gases, liquids, and the countless organisms that together support life on Earth. Soil is a natural body known as the pedosphere and which performs four important functions: it is a medium for plant growth; it is a means of water storage, supply and purification; it is a modifier of Earth's atmosphere; it is a habitat for organisms; all of which, in turn, modify the soil.
Soil is considered to be the "skin of the Earth" and interfaces with its lithosphere, hydrosphere, atmosphere, and biosphere. Soil consists of a solid phase (minerals and organic matter) as well as a porous phase that holds gases and water. Accordingly, soils are often treated as a three-state system of solids, liquids, and gases.
Soil is the end product of the influence of the climate, relief (elevation, orientation, and slope of terrain), organisms, and its parent materials (original minerals) interacting over time. Soil continually undergoes development by way of numerous physical, chemical and biological processes, which include weathering with associated erosion.
Searing below me
My only child
The only one
Will no one help
Your might all but spent
Flowers of the field
Grey and somehow older
A freshness subdued
I'll always wonder
If I could have changed
And maybe take back
My one true friend
For pity's sake
Don't hurt my earthen child
My only child
Greying cities and concrete skin
Torn between life
Cover the earth with needless filth
I gave to you without question
You took more without asking
Colours fading in the sun
I gave to you with all I know
I was not there
I'll always know
I could have helped
I could have saved
My one true friends
For pity's sake
Don't hurt my earthen child
My only child
Greying cities
And concrete skin
Sallow faces
And empty hearts