That Time When There Is Yet Nothing
That time when there is yet nothing,Her skills being at rest, synchronizedAnd sympathetic with soil's sleep --Timid buds of lilac or jonquil still
Tucked within themselves -- she wondersIf she's even a subsistence woman, isMistaken in that as so much else, as whenEven deep snow cannot efface what
Winter erases when it is nearest spring.Her hands stretch to packaged seeds;Enter into bargains with their quietude.Now? Now? Now? Now? she asks them,
Though she knows they will not move.Here by a cold window she spreadsEnvelopes on her table: peas, beets.Radishes will be first, nearest the house.Even now she smells them, lifted, bitten.
Is there nothing that can be done?She asks for the hundredth time.
You'd think the mud would dry a little,Evenings come later, mornings earlier,The birds nest and sing, daisies open!
No. Tools rest in their ranks, sharpened,Oiled. Clouds pass, low, lightless, sulking.The arbor's done, fences, orchard, Heaps heaped. All she needs todayIs that this blank month turn a littleNearer sun, before her plot of earthGrazes on forgetfulness too soon.
Tucked within themselves -- she wondersIf she's even a subsistence woman, isMistaken in that as so much else, as whenEven deep snow cannot efface what
Winter erases when it is nearest spring.Her hands stretch to packaged seeds;Enter into bargains with their quietude.Now? Now? Now? Now? she asks them,
Though she knows they will not move.Here by a cold window she spreadsEnvelopes on her table: peas, beets.Radishes will be first, nearest the house.Even now she smells them, lifted, bitten.
Is there nothing that can be done?She asks for the hundredth time.
You'd think the mud would dry a little,Evenings come later, mornings earlier,The birds nest and sing, daisies open!
No. Tools rest in their ranks, sharpened,Oiled. Clouds pass, low, lightless, sulking.The arbor's done, fences, orchard, Heaps heaped. All she needs todayIs that this blank month turn a littleNearer sun, before her plot of earthGrazes on forgetfulness too soon.
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