Grandma kept saying 
“Son, don’t yield to temptation”
over and over  
Her faint scratchy voice 
spooky as the October wind
blowing around dry cornstalks  
Her old woman smell
of stinky asafetida
thick in the closed room  

“Son, don’t yield to temptation”

These were her last words
then the death rattle  
In the aftermath
of her dying, the advice
cautions my pleasure
Copyright © 2019 Trifoglio

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