Inhabitants

She severed heads of vegetables in the kitchen and
Washed their blood-stained dishes, all the while
Somewhere else.
She baked loaves of concrete bread that
Rose beyond the sky and gave her
Stairs to heaven.
She cleaned carpets and picked up after
People who lived with her but yet
Ignored her gift.
She ignored that lost innocence of her family and
Accepted her conservative
Habitual life.

Raking out the stones in her garden,
Weeding her plant beds,
While breathing aromatic wisps of lavender,
As the lilacs breathed gentle sighs,
At the sensual touch of a bumblebee,
And the roses smiled happily,
She smiled back to herself.
While morning glory choked the trellis and
Hostas waved from the ground
Her knuckles and knees became bloody
From endless toil, and beauty made from
Sweat washed away still shined through the fragrant
Faces of her true children.