Day 204

The day after Caleb’s death, four year old Mabel
plays that Caleb and her dog
are playing together in heaven. I like to think of Caleb,
with his great tail, bounding again through fields
the way he did when he was young.  I am thinking
of how he might lie down with his full golden weight
beside a child who has no arms, beside a child
whose face is burned so badly no one knows who she is.
I think of Caleb and Mabel’s dog walking, one
on each side of a child whose legs have been shattered 
by shrapnel, to keep him from falling.  Can you fall
in Heaven? Can hind legs that have carried a dog
thousands of miles grow whole
and strong again?  Can a charred face
begin to heal, so a child
who has lost everything can slowly learn again
to move her lips, to call the dogs, to say
this is my name, this is what I looked like, this is who I am.