After long hours of mindless labor,
yoked with debt, they are released like oxen

to graze in the remnant grass of another day.

When he left to plow the sea and husband
other lands, she became all fire.
The flames clutched air, their smoke

"Death is also the thief of beauty," he says,
as a slow disquietude replaces morning's calm.
The pink light fades from ashen clouds,