Shepherd Road

By Ashley Anna McHugh
Eventually, I grab the back-door key
from the cup-holder, slip a folded list
into my pocket. Inside, I dig through closets

to find the lincoln logs, the cardinal statue,
the clock shaped like an elephant, a kettle—

but the whole time I half expect to hear her:
the careful shuffle of her slow, flat feet;
her walker's unpredictable clap; her voice

trembling with evangelical vibrato.
Beside the bed, I find a King James Bible,

her careful marginalia penciled in:
Glory! Glory! Amen! I set it down.
I shouldn't want it just because it's hers.

Copyright Credit: Ashley  Anna McHugh, "The Unquarried Blue of Those Depths Is All But Blinding" from Into These Knots. Copyright © 2010 by Ashley  Anna McHugh.  Reprinted by permission of Rowman & Littlefield Publishing Group.
Source: Into These Knots (Ivan R. Dee, 2010)