Day 1,096

Tell me this child
is going to live. Tell me
her reading, her studying,
will bear fruit, will lead
to something in this world.
Tell me she will write poems,
stories, and people
will read them, people
will be changed by them,
people will know her name.
Tell me she’ll survive
more bombings like those
she’s already survived. Tell me
her arms and her legs
will remain intact. Her eyes
will continue seeing. Tell me
she will not die of hunger
or a sickness
that could be cured
if the medicine for it
were let in. Tell me
her will to live
will remain
as strong as the winds
that blow from the sea.
Yes, that above all! Tell me
all this as you watch her now,
running, ten years old,
her long braids flying behind her
in such a wind.