It was not for this moment
that we had walked you to school
& saved a purple ribbon or two
& carried you across a rocky stream
to search for a missing shoe
you thought was part of you
It was not for this moment
that we gathered photos
& strung them end to end
like an aerial tram
over a nature preserve
of the happiest places you had been
It was not for this moment
silent arrangements were made
to show justice in a princely light
to render mysteries benign
to pretend fortune has no bite
to dictate only from the Book of Delight
It was for this fracture of time
broken in a swirl of anesthesia
that your children darted through trick signs
in the half-truth riddles given them
past time drawn straight in frictionless space
to that place we had thought you safe
for Chondra
April 2012