Uncle Eddie lost three fingers
when the combine ate his hand
and Junior lost his life
when the tractor rolled into the ditch

There was reason for families
to have so many children
to do all the work, and because
God would always claim some back

Jealous, Grandma would say,
of all the love they had here
and wishing he had never
given them away

Every day she’d wake them
feed them, send them out to chores
never once saying, Be careful
because she never wanted

their last thought to be
that it could have been their fault
but instead, that God had come
to take them home with him.

[Prompt: Technology]