Day 982

Her whole family was killed
in the airstrike: mother, father,
all her siblings. Now she’s
the only one left. Now,
at nine, she’s the only one
living. The one
bearer of memories, the one
mourner, the one carrier
of her father’s eyes, her mother’s
laugh, her sister’s secrets.
Who could say she survived?
How much of her
lies with them
under the earth?
How much of her
spends her hours, now,
looking for signs of them,
listening for their voices?