Preparing the Garden

Worms course through the soil we turn
as we turn it to plant flowers, vegetables,
and herbs. Summer, quicken its way to us,
I want rosemary to overflow on this bed’s
corner, and wide red tomatoes sliced with salt.
Why are they called beds? Do we grow when we sleep?
If so, put me to sleep until summer, when the squash
flower’s transformed into squash, when I’ve learned
not to give the rocky parts of childhood
my roots. Let me reach down towards something
prior to birth, to the fire at the core of the earth,
the heat and light and power that also fuels stars.