Anne Stevenson - Temporarily in Oxford lyrics

Where they will bury me I don't know. Many places might not be sorry to store me. The Midwest has right of origin. Already it has welcomed my mother to its flat sheets. The English fens that bore me have been close curiously often. It seems I can't get away from dampness and learning. If I stay where I am I could sleep in this educated earth. But if they are kind, they'll burn me and send me to Vermont. I'd be an education for the trees and would relish, really, flaring into maple each October— my scarlet letter to you. Your stormy north is possible. You will be there, engrossed in its peat. It would be handy not to have to cross the whole Atlantic each time I wanted to lift up the turf and slip in beside you.