Preheat body through fourteen school years coming home sunburnt

after annual sports days on shadeless fields. Pour your time into

cupped hands until overflowing. Keep as many secrets inside….

Dear little girl, I know you are very young

You are so worried about perfect instead of having fun

Your hair is dark and so are your thoughts

Always thinking about what you are not

Whose grief do I hold in my hands

it is a dark animal shape

asleep on my chest, a stone

worn smooth