A garden wheelbarrow
fills with rain, worms escape
their drowned burrows, a toad
squats on flagstones, expelled
……………from its leaf shelter.

Inside her house, I clean
every room, scrub bathrooms
gleaming white, while rain
traces patterns on windows,
……………focuses the light.

Goldenrod sways outside
the nursing home under
gold-leafed trees. I sort her
clothes, sweaters where moths
……………left their testaments,

pack up fragile souvenirs,
letters, photographs,
a lace-fringed card:
aides-mémoire
……………no longer needed.