Day 279

The child walks by herself at the edge of the tent,
running her hand along the smooth fabric.
The tent is made from a parachute some soldier
used to land in a field near where her tent is.
The soldier is the age of her older brother.
He may have a sister like her, who loves
to run, to read, to draw.  The child tries
to imagine the soldier, guided gently down
from the sky by the parachute that shelters
her and her family.  She wants him to know
that she lost her home, that this is now
where she lives.  She wonders how many
people who lived in these tents he may have killed,
and whether he ever looked at their eyes.
She imagines her eyes are like his sister’s.