Now winter is coming on
I suppose it would be a good idea
to mask the small holes in the kitchen window
that broke getting into the locked house
last spring.
It would show forethought
to — even though the bathroom faucets
drip steadily — wrap the pipes
under the house
that last winter’s long freeze
proved brittle as burnt sugar.
Uprooting the dandelions —
the only things still green in the lawn —
before the first rains
might demonstrate my neighborly good will.
All that —
bringing in, even while the sun
sets in a clear sky, the porch chairs,
stowing, finally, the shovel in the garage —
ought to be easy
now I’ve turned that homeless woman
away from my door.
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