Two days from now you won’t remember how I laid you down delirious, my six-year-old daughter swooning
spoonfuls of purple medicine sickly sweet
your body burning up beneath pink sheets you kicked to the foot of the bed
I swear you were dreaming of mermaids saddled on pink dolphins like bejeweled rodeo stars mermaids swimming closer mermaids with long yellow hair bucking waves— sea girls with one hand raised in salty air, orbiting in circles overhead, wee galaxies of ocean mist, droplets of sweat on your lips.
At dawn your fever broke with the sweetness of candy glass mason jars; fireflies escaping as embers, a dimming delirium of stars.
Two days from now you won’t remember how I came to you in the middle of the night when you cried out for me, your voice unfamiliar— a song sung by a small girl burning up beneath the sea.