Lee Evans

Clematis clambers
Passionately over the fence
Onto the neighbor’s tool shed

The rotting floor sags
Beneath the roof that drips down
Melting snow and summer rain

Rusted and unused
The garden hoe and rake lie
Jumbled with an unwound hose

The window panes peer
Into the distance obscured
With cataracts of neglect

Would he even care
If I let in the daylight
Through the broken unlocked door

If I washed the glass
Sharpened the shears swept the floor
And put his house in order

Would it be a sin
If I offered back to him
Those implements neglected

Leafstalks twist and curl
The dead wood returns to life
Adorned with purple flowers