Sycamore ants

In our back yard at the base of a sycamore tree

lived brown ants – I would feed them

cake crumbs and cinnamon sugar toast

on sunny summer afternoons

Watch them swarm and carry it away

dry days, I would sprinkle water on the ground

evenings, I watched them crawl up the bark

higher than I could see

Winter came with snow and ice

I would ask God to care for each ant

the way he cares for sparrows

and in the spring they would return

My brother now owns the house – the sycamore and ants

that wait for angels and manna to fall from the sky

cake crumbs and cinnamon sugar toast

on sunny summer afternoons

11-4-19