She sneaked a handful of tea leaves
from her mother's tin tea can
In her palm they looked like thick, shriveled, black ants.

Between the edge of her home with peeling, blue paint
and her red bicycle thrown on its side
she dug a hole,

and one by one the speckled daytime stars
fell from her fingers into their underground sky.

She had watched the tea leaves fall from her mothers fingers
into her teapot always gently humming on the stove
and she had watched that with her mother's touch
these speckled shriveled leaves came to life in full bloom

So now she sprinkled water on her tea leaves.
She gave those same black tea leaves from her mother's tin tea can.
room to grow underground
so that they could bloom
without glass walls caging them in.