CIVILIZATION - Poem

 CIVILIZATION


(Copyright 2020, by Dave Kiffer)

He built her the best house in the village
One story with a dormer, Stilts raising
The floor above the inevitable yearly flood
And when the rains came, it leaked
Like all the houses leaked, slowly
But steadily like a drum-beat
And she took out the pots and pans
And she emptied them twice a day
And he went over each roof tile
But the leaks never stopped
They only moved around
As the water sought new routes
When the season finally cleared
And the heat returned
He sent her to relatives Outside
And he tore the roof to the frame
And pulled the sheeting up by each nail
And still it leaked in the next storm
But this time there was a bucket
Sitting high in the rafters, and
Another one to catch the overflow
His father had told him to gamble
That she wouldn’t be around
Long enough to notice

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