Vertebrae

(April 27, 2005)

And the little girl sits, grass-stained, all day
With a blanket of flowers and the sky
Opening so blue and rich above her,
Constructing a bracelet of vertebrae.

She's bright-smiling and whistling as she plays,
Fingers tugging at errant bits and scraps,
Beaming at the squirrels and winging bluebirds
And putting insides outside on display.

She drapes bones and tendons in soft array
Across her crossed legs, with sneakers peeping
From the pink pinafore her mother chose,
And lets the earth carry the blood away.

Skipping home under rich sunset's display
With wind-blown hair an even richer shade,
She sings her joy to the clouds and maples,
Beautiful limbs adorned with vertebrae.