Day 388

The father in his white hospital coat
is bending over his little son
in his white shroud
Warplanes fly overhead
among white clouds
Having taken this child,
they are aiming at others
The father has taken an hour 
from his work
with children at the hospital
to be with his son one last time
before the earth closes around him
And he — father, doctor — returns
to the hospital
to staunch the wounds
of other children
with white gauze taken
from the bodies
of yet other children 
who have died, washed
in whatever water there is
and in the tears of their parents