Augustus

\'Tween the Rows

Two more acres to plow today

But \'tween the rows she did lay.

 

She dreamed of stalks of high corn

Bushels of beans and peas–

All alone and far along–and

the sun off distant canon gleamed.

 

She gave birth in the field

and lay the infant \'tween the rows.

There he kicked and squealed

with dirt twixt his tiny toes

 

She buried the afterbirth

using only her callused hands.

She hurried, and worked

a shallow sanctuary in the land.

 

Cooing to her child,

clicking to the mule

she raised again the plow

and sweated on past the noon.

 

Two more acres to plow today.

\'Tween the rows the baby lay.

 

 

Augustus / Folsom, LA / December 2016