Tonight we’re aligned with the stars I’m wearing Orion’s belt You’re drinking in thirsty gulps from the big dipper The little one’s in freckles on your chest And now I can hear the wind chimes On the porch I can hear the leaves Of the Bradford Pear I can hear the cats and dogs and coyotes and deer and owls Making nighttime noises I can hear mom snoring in the house For one of the last times I can hear the trampoline springs creaking with age And feel it bouncing and swaying under us Like it did in its heyday I can hear you sniffling, sister, I can hear you crying Your warm wet tears Are drowning my ears Like all those summers we did swim team When I take your hand It’s smaller than I remember It’s Abby circa ‘99 Though you didn’t let me hold it then And I never tried Now our hair is curling in swirling halos Around the same face Mom’s face We never did look like Dad Now we’re gazing at the same stars Under the same March sky Thinking, saying, “God is good” Saying, believing, “How can He not be? When the sky looks like this” Believing, knowing, that it’s true Even while our hearts are rocks, Our hands are clay, Our minds are swarming Teeming Buzzing Hives But “God is good” “How can He not be? When the sky looks like this” When our mother is a fish How can He not be? We know: “God is good.” While we’re reading the Braille of the sky Two foxes slink by Now we dismount the trampoline and go inside Where we hear Mom snoring For one of the last times