A tincture of time
and it’s all mulch.
Better that
than flows through rusty pipes,
than floods
on basement floors, on memory,
with all these years’ accumulation of muck.
Better that,
when all the processes of deterioration have done their worst,
a new sump-pump is anticipated, and shall take its place
in the innards of our existence,
a new sprout, (a fresh vegetable kind offeeling)
like green like happy like life,
will make its belated appearance
in the garden,
in the spring-time garden.