Fear is a Lucrative Business

The child sits in the midst,
surrounded by friendly mud,
under black lines hanging in the sky.

The mother sweeps
and weeps and worries.

The toad under the wet leaves
is as wide eyed as a toad
in a fairytale, just watching

the day with its earthy dampness
gather up the sun like mud
in the girl’s small hand

then quickly tossed it on
to a dark vanishing horizon.
It’s a lucrative story of meddling —

the mother is filled with what
she believes hangs overhead
in the black wires.

But the boundless toad
historically knows the light
will fill an ominous sky once again.