Day 395

A mother takes her child to a medical tent
for her second polio vaccine, and the plane overhead
drops its bomb at precisely that moment.  Child, mother,
nurse, all lie in the dust.  The mother’s other children,
the ones who didn’t come, wait for them
in their tent, and their aunt waits with them.
Soon they will know who is not coming back.
Soon they will wonder whether their sister
had her second vaccine before she was killed.
It’s important, the sister closest in age to her says.
She was the weakest among us.  That’s why
our mother took her for the vaccine — we were afraid
that if any of us got polio, it would be her.  Our mother
wanted to keep her strong.