Consequently,

the torrential ennui terminated.

The three travelers pushed forward,

Like the first rivulets of an onrushing flood.

Anna Marie waded toward

The hole in the water.

Mother dropped her spoon,

As she looked up to see

The hole devour Anna Marie.

 

Father dropped his shovel

in the ditch,

Nearly falling ass over Nairobi,

(but God was on his side),

As Anna Marie disappeared with the tide.

 

Resolutely,

Mother and Father left without Anna Marie,

Who had left without consent–

And hence, without sympathy,

Was left without a family.

 

As her struggle subsided,

her new-found friend chided,

And she abandoned hope

of ever seeing Mother or Father again.

 

And as the transient night fell down once more,

Mother and Father were heading for Orland

In the indigent Ford;

Looking for their little lost daughter

In the houses of the Lord.

 

Winter 1974