[They inherit a packet of earth]

They inherit a packet of earth hear its coins clank in a tin box push them aside reap thick strands of night from thinning black hair. They climb the staircase clenching branches of pens filled with ducks’ blood and follow the butcher’s bed into this room— goose feathers thorning out of their eyes. They promise to never look down again down is just a speck of globe dust just coins clanking in the tin box.