THOU SHALT NOT COVET

  

Clematis clambers

Passionately over the fence

Onto the neighbor’s tool shed

 

The rotting floor sags

Beneath the roof that drips down

Melting snow and summer rain

 

Rusted and unused

The garden hoe and rake lie

Jumbled with an unwound hose

 

The window panes peer

Into the distance obscured

With cataracts of neglect

 

Would he even care

If I let in the daylight

Through the broken unlocked door

 

If I washed the glass

Sharpened the shears swept the floor

And put his house in order

 

Would it be a sin

If I offered back to him

Those implements neglected

 

Leafstalks twist and curl

The dead wood returns to life

Adorned with purple flowers