The Latest Dig

    I stretched my hand out
    To where she was and
    Unlike in years before
    She let it hang, thinking
    As she did some long ago
    Thoughts, not seeing me
    As she would have once.

    On the cave floor
    Archaeologists found
    Innumerable bones, mostly
    The very young or old.
    The rest, the fit and healthy,
    Died somewhere else,
    Fighting to save

    The rest for here with
    Whatever serenity we
    Survive to pretend,
    Holding hands out
    To those needing
    To lie down here
    On the cave floor.