Alchemy

I heap up failures of cook or appetite, Old sod, weeds, peelings, rinds, Ruins of poems, impulse buys Gone bad, dregs, and grounds Into a great pyre for heat to decay To simple soil: frangible humus Suitable for root crops, leeks, Extravagant melons. Turning the pile

In April air, I find instead Cool green heads of cabbage, Four soft gray moles tunneling, The principle of the root cellar.