a villanelle for the students of Virginia Tech
16 April 2007
I scratched a furrow in the clay behind
the shed: a clammy trench to fill with swill
of molding leaves and watermelon rinds.
I had a villanelle for you in mind--
a requiem or elegy--until
I scratched that furrow in the clay behind
my weathered shed. Of course, I cried to find
the news about your death, but words that spilled
were moldy leaves and watermelon rinds.
So I left off writing, tears, and grief, and mined
the hardened earth for ivy roots to kill.
I scratched a furrow in that clay behind
the wooden shed. A line of nails and twine
I drove into the beams above my hill
of molding leaves and watermelon rinds.
New planted beans will grasp these trailing lines:
small requiems lifted above the swill
from a scratched furrow in the clay behind,
with molding leaves and watermelon rinds.