A thousand steps, the rain fell like a thousand stepsHeavy on her shoulders. Sandals fell in the mud, were drops;
She waited years to touch the dirt... but her eyes squinted -
A sprout lighted through the metal, hard but splinted
like Lightning breaking the clouds on a summer night.
More cold, she felt, than her broken kettle
forgetting to keep the water warm, she waited for the
earth to fire it, melt it down like family gold.
Goodbye, she said, to home and hearth;
The storm would comb no further.
The cold inside should end the battle,
Lay like stone to mark the journey.