HANSEL AT HIS STEPMOTHER’S GRAVE
It’s not as if I can’t understand
why you did it. I couldn’t stand
it either, the house so groaning and
bent at the knees, the cupboards
with their gaping mouths,
our useless hands. And the demon
in my belly, the reproach it put
on my face – I would have ripped it out
if I could have, so I understand
why you said we had to go. Did you think
we didn’t hear you? Even then
we were good at lying still and
listening to the sounds the night makes.
Did you think that even then we wouldn’t
try to find our way back to you?
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