(for Ruby at age 6)

Does it feel like tumbling

this darkness that keeps increasing

like who knows what is true.

Whatever you feel

feel it.

The first time you saw stars

you called them sparks

and I’ve been trying to explain

all the common things,

like head rushes

like why y is sometimes a vowel

like why you do not call the police

There is a mystery, we often call it life,

this darkness that keeps increasing

like who knows what is true.

Whatever you feel,

just keep telling me

how you feel.

We won’t make it out alive,

so please live.