Baby bulbs

The girls and I,
Eggy looking on from my back,
tread on still wet ground
to do some bulb planting for the first time.

The hoses are snakes;
they hide
under the canopy of fall leaves--
brown oaks, yellow maples, dried pines
while we dig
dry earth,
sand, roots, a snail
shell and more
roots, and then
moist earth.
Eggy falls asleep.

The girls sing lullabies to their baby bulbs,
dance on top to firm the beds
and cover them with blankets of dirt and leaves.

Then the snake hunt
to give the babies one good soak
all the while promising
to wait
for them until spring,