1993
For Emma
September 1993


“For Emma,” Ensign, Sept. 1993, 56

For Emma

Mississippi ice.

The flux of her cumbersome skirt

corrugated in the grip of her children:

Joseph to one side,

Julia on the other.

Her arms midnight aching

from the weight of two more babes,

Frederick and Alexander hung in embrace.

Heavy bags of the Prophet’s papers

bound to her waist.

Her mind behind with him

shut in prison.

Home, cold-impacted Missouri,

left hollow by her flight

across the river’s frozen slate.

The careful tramp of her feet

scuffing the ice,

her name aching in my throat

every time it’s heard.