Lullaby for the Broken - Katy R.

So leave your bottles on the counter

say goodnight

say it to the bed, to the chair

to the man across the street

sitting on his front step

smoking a dim cigarette that

sparks like fireflies into the dusk

And your daughter

that unborn one with hair the color of corn

say goodnight to her as well

and your mother who died too soon

and your father

whose tears never dried

who shrivels in his polyester husk

Until he’s so empty his skin

folds like an envelope around his bones, and you

put him in the crook of your arm,

carry him to the places he needs to go

because there was a time he carried you

because there comes a time we will all carry and be carried

even the fathers, strong as they once were

Even the daughters with hair the color of silt

who never thought they’d be here

but they are, and we are

so say goodnight

goodnight, goodnight

the moon is fragile but bright

the lights flicker but it’s all right

all right now,

all right.