The daughter, the daughter
with her tender, tired, rosy eyes
her free spirit sent down from a lofty stratosphere
to a kicked gut
pulled by the chain that keeps her balloon heart from
floating, floating, floating
She sinks like a stone in the sea,
thrown by this event without a skip
her tender, tired, rosy eyes burning pink like a bridge
between what she sees and how she feels

The dog, the old dog
with a salty lip and metal hip
waits on his master's chair,
hoping that maybe keeping it warm
might mean a sliver of rich time
tossing something
anything
"play with me"
But by this event,
the arthritis legs of a labrador retriever
digs up a new trick in the backyard
and lays down in the hole to join his master

The father, a master,
resting in a jagged jailcell
a slicing white hospital bed
with a wishlist for a tail
that cowers underneath his failing heart
hugging it so close
as if it were the reason his blood turns blue
With a republican head and Yankee spine,
his stubbornness could not cushion his fall
And at the time,
the nurse was fetching him water