ANGEL MOUND stone spades hammers awls the walls of the town pointed bones cocoon pendants of shell-fired clay beads clay vessels whole and broken the town is broken fields are now wild meadows the mounds crowned with woods the people dispersed all perished their play and work feast days and summer labor sweat muscle strain blows the autumn sent nights bright with stars the rain poured down they sheltered songs lifted the heart stories lit the winter dark a well-known comfort we bring them out of the earth to be near them our angels of abandonment not mysterious remains caught in our hands as reminders