Survived by Her Mother

after class you would drag me with protest 
to the empty cherry tree
to tend the ground there
once a week respectfully

you would speak to me
of the carrot-headed sister
just beneath my feet as solemnly 
you would stroke the ground 
to tuck her into her
silten sheets some six feet deep

with the months that passed before you
could afford to mark the ground beneath the cherry tree
I learned to wait in your sheepskin seats
and dig my teeth deep into my knees
to dam the creeks above these ruddy cheeks that betray me

now you signed your name across the space beside her
and tend the ground where you will lay apart from everything
but your carrot-headed daughter beneath that cherry tree
eternally