A Burial

A waist-deep pit to obstruct
later disturbances – allotted

unsettling of five feet [to be
filled by my dog’s lax shell]

She cradled on my lap [loss
as stillness] & gravity rolled

her off as my kids filtered to
sob in quiet rooms – I sliced

a rectangle of turf – peeling
it & then thick soil wafts off

heel-stamping spadework –
[guess of hefts to lie her in] –

Thud of sods on her coat &
then her muted burial plot

was filled – more stillness &
loss as I wept by that place

but I will never go back – As
worms rotate she lies alone