Abby heard the car pull up. A flush of triumph rose in her chest. Bella was home from school! Now the gloating could begin!
Being twins, the sisters spent most of their time trying to out-do each
...
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Topsoil crumbles in my hands.
I am digging, parting the ground like Moses
only I see no Father on my side.
Springbirds sing, but the ground is numbing.
My fingernails flake, bare and brittle,
and dirt cakes like blackened French tips.
Roots and fungus mingle with minerals.
I think of earth's obliging layers
and of the dent for flowers now hollowed by my hands.
The soil is soft, tilled by creeping things.
I think of my feet and lips and mind of clay
and wonder why worms can't soften me, too.
I am digging, parting the ground like Moses
only I see no Father on my side.
Springbirds sing, but the ground is numbing.
My fingernails flake, bare and brittle,
and dirt cakes like blackened French tips.
Roots and fungus mingle with minerals.
I think of earth's obliging layers
and of the dent for flowers now hollowed by my hands.
The soil is soft, tilled by creeping things.
I think of my feet and lips and mind of clay
and wonder why worms can't soften me, too.