READY TO GO
My mother scatters the ashes
from her cooking fire.
She sweeps the hogan floor
with her rabbit-brush broom.
My father lays the bough
across the door
to show that we have gone.
The dogs bark.
They run around the sheep corral
telling the sheep
we are ready to go.
The young corn in the field
hangs its tasseled heads.
Young corn,
my grandmother is staying
at home.
She will take care of you.
My father mounts his horse.
He drives the pack horses before him.
My uncle mounts his horse.
They ride away together,
singing,
across the empty sand.
