first steps

the green light chlorophyl disdains to use
announces that our crops are in good health
but it's by sucking up the reds and blues
that it contributes to a farmer's wealth
two photons per electron share the weight
promoted out of water's cozy well
as waste, free oxygen to liberate
the quantum yield's not huge, but what the Hell
molecular machines are in the news
but--so far--there's less substance here than noise
compared to what a chloroplast would use
this Chemistry Nobel rewarded toys
before photovoltaics were the rage
a blue-green alga launched the solar age