Sprung

The yarrow died. He said the yarrow died
last year when I was too strung out on grief
to pace the yard. I couldn’t bear the fat
cartwheeling clouds, the soil like fudge, the shit
of too damned many birds. In winter, death
is like an earthquake. It’s not if but when.
But June’s no time to die, too many flies
will gather friends and dot like berry seeds
along your face. This spring, he touched my wrist,
told me the yarrow died when you were dying,
told me its skeleton in brittle grey
was still footing the yard. I pulled it out.