i.

On the coast of Brazil,

the soil expects the coming of an Englishman

and in grave anticipation

dries up.

He is at home now,

São Paulo a mere red blood cell

sailing through his heart

alongside his sciences, his scriptures.

ii.

In the English countryside,

the dirt envelops the small body

of her only child,

baptized and buried by her own hand.

She’s removed from mother

and ushered into parson,

her hands weaving a cross

of branches, ribbon, flowers.

iii.

Miles down the road,

the ground absorbs drippings of red paint.

The sign, freshly erected;

“Thou Shalt Not—”

In the chapel nearby,

He wears religion like a cloak,

something he can slip into, out of,

at any time, anywhere.

after Tess of the D’Urbervilles by Thomas Hardy.