Gaining Darkness

Going down to the cellar 
a child awakens to tendrils 
of winter vegetables 
that elongate like white worms.
Multiple hairs grizzle carrots. 
Potatoes shrivel like aged faces. 

Diseased by measles, 
a child’s eyes long for such a place
to burrow deep— 
recovery in darkness. 

Going down where things grow
revises the mind— 
light, the dichotomy: 

Half illumed, 
the moon thins outside. 
The glint of recognition 
fades from Father’s eyes, 
down deep, being rooted 
in the earth.