The Keeper

The Keeper works with snakes and listens to
their whispered tales of mouldy fruit, so long
abandoned. Taking up her shovel, she
dreams that digging for the roots of wisdom
is better than shifting dung in the name
of conservation. The soil of Eden
smells the same as a Safari Park at
the height of summer. No matter how deep
she digs, she cannot free the world from roots
that penetrate and crack the roof of Hell.
And when she wakes, she looks for blisters on
her palms – but, of course, all flesh is healed by
daylight’s blessings. Yet there is still something
about snakes that makes her guard glass cages.