Garden Plot

by Michelle Davidson Argyle

April 2003

I see you ankle-deep
in soil,
a cupped handful
of seeds, bent
at the waist
as if doubled in pain,
but you're planting

tomatoes and corn
for the coming Fall
when trees will give
up their dead
to the soil and your
grown seeds.
This is what I see

in a garden plot,
in soil,
your bare feet
and ankles tracking
mud into the kitchen
while I'm baking bread
and dreaming of the seeds

we will plant in the future:
small hands, elbows, toes
that will stand in the soil
next to you---
a face looking up
with the question: "Daddy,
what are we planting now?"