The red living-room rug had to be rolled before we could sell your house,
so dad stood on one side and I stood on the other
we gathered the ends and the fringe and we gathered up
the rug and on each shoulder lifted and carried it
above our heads and out the door to the truck.
What I never knew was beneath the rug lay the most marvelous
hardwood floor that I had never known in my life,
bright and beautiful and strong
clean and bright like the oak trees you showed me in the backyard
fresh as I know it was on a day before I was born
when you laid it 70 years ago when you built this home and moved here after the war.
In the same way I saw them draw up the sheet after you died and pull
the tube from your abdomen and remove the catheter and you had always been
grandma to me and beautiful yes but your body too had to be rolled and
gathered up and carried away but before
they moved you I saw your stomach and your navel and both were
bright and beautiful and strong
clean and bright like the oak trees you showed me in the backyard
fresh as I know they were on a day before I was born
when you laid for the first time 70 years ago in the home you built after the war.