Raw Autumn Kingdom

The season for tomatoes

slipping away, turning us brown too

— gummy boots and the strength of someone much more than twice your age

We run, faster. You learn fast, too.

-

Splitting the darker ones, red like cooked blood,

soft like the word plump.

A burial by unprecise — small hands.

So much growth will this land witness.

-

You got some growing to do, boy.

A king with a reign. Reign with his kingdom.

I offer my service as orance to you, nephew,

on the days you got questions, on the days you think you're alone

while you cry.

-

Stay for a while, and spend the autumns with me if you wish

just looking at the aging garden

even though you'll have more fun to attend to.

-

We can harvest some potatoes

or plant some things that may seem boring to you

but you’ll be there

with the same smile of this not yet 2 year old boy.

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You're your mother's heart keeper,

her sorrow now fading

one mile away with every tooth you show.

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And I’ll tell you

during a cold day in the garden,

of when as a child,

I’d try to hold my mother’s sorrow in my heart too,

all I could —

If I could see her smile.