Day 977

His father is holding
his backpack, little backpack
the boy took with him
this morning when he went
to the tent school
he loved. Little backpack,
all that remains of his
eight-year-old son.
Stained with his son’s
blood. The father
strokes the bloodstain
as though he feels
something of his son
contained there. Little backpack
filled with notebooks, pencils,
books. Arithmetic problems,
a story about a donkey
the boy never finished reading.
The father will take it
back to his tent, will open
the notebooks, study
his child’s handwriting.
Read the rest of the story
about the donkey, the ending
where the donkey is found
at last by the child
who lost him.