This morning the nip of not-quite-frost
\ngave an urgency to my stone assemblage:
\nsoon the sporadic flurry of maple leaves
\nwill become a storm that will smother
\nthe work; my pattern of stones
\non its carefully edged bed of stone dust
\nwill have to wait until spring
\nfor its final grouting.<\/p>\n
But today I can brush away a few leaves,
\nadjust the spacing, cradle each rocking stone
\nin more carefully administered stone dust,
\nsetting stone in stone. This is painstaking work:
\nmore and more stone dust I shovel
\nfrom the trailer into the wheelbarrow,
\nfrom the wheelbarrow to a bucket
\nand work it carefully under each rock that moves
\nuntil it doesn’t.<\/p>\n
At last the trailer is empty, the flagstones
\nare steady; all is ready for the grout.
\nI return to the house for a shot of scotch,
\nand to watch odd leaves fluttering down.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
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