I stop Mr. Oblinger as he works
to remind him to eat.
My day’s quiet;
I mend
and iron.
I work numbers
and look at a passage in my reader,
the one Hiram helped me with,
about the vastness of the ocean,
the limitlessness of the sea.
His voice in my head helps me when I stumble.
I’ve never seen water spread
straight to the horizon;
these endless grasslands
are sea enough for me.
This soddy’s like an island
far from any shoreline.
My home is out there
somewhere.
To me,
a world away.