Carolina

We set fire to the cotton stubble in the fields

The black soot quick to join the sand

It will not rain, and the few pileated will not

venture far from the stand of long leaf pine

A hot lull settles around her

her skin is flush, a color of earliest sunrise

She is only seen by me, and

I can only see her now when I almost close my eyes

Girl on the road, by the strand, walking in shadow

Your bare feet and thin cotton dress

Please listen to me,

I did not plant these fields, or till the ashes back

I exert nothing under the Sun

I have fallen utterly from Grace

But you walk, your back to me

Your head held down, long hair glancing

And carry the merest wisp of something conjoined

Hot, without pity, our hearts ooze tar.