Dear barren ground

Once flowing with splashes

Joy and laughter.

A place of raucous peace

Where four small beings’

Wrathful dissonant quarrels 

Melted magically

Into clamoring harmonies.

Dear barren ground

Where once stood 

Pooling reflections of sibling unity

Who could have guessed?

Your bountiful gifts continue to flow

The crisply dancing fall breeze

Swirling past your naked plot

Wafting memories of childhood long past.

The crisply dancing fall breeze

Swirling past your naked plot

Carries surprising memories of my childhood

Who could have guessed?

You would now smell 

Exactly like a brisk South Dakota evening

Sun setting yellow and orange and furious red

Over the furrowed fields

Future home of corn and wheat and soy

Now freshly strewn

Thick and rich

With manure.