Earthworms emerge, seeking air.
They are there in the driveway, stranded
on the steaming asphalt,
where my two small daughters find them.

They squat close to look, then
rescue: gently lifting slimy strands
of pink and brown,
they lay them down in sunburned grass.

I watch, then kneel
to help.

Jennifer L Freed is author of When Light Shifts, a memoir-in-poems about the aftermath of her mother’s cerebral hemorrhage. Her daughters have grown up, but she still remembers the day they rescued earthworms. Please visit jfreed.weebly.com to learn more.