Early Sorrow

After the three sisters had waited nine months
for the baby who was born dead,
they fretted about her being buried alone.
So they placed next to her
their almost-favorite stuffed animals,
the toucan by her plump cheeks
and the kookaburra by her elbow.
In her hands, they put the board book
Good Night Gorilla, in which the gorilla-hero steals
the keys from the zookeeper’s belt,
and frees the elephant, lion and giraffe.
The sisters knew she would laugh
when the animals followed the keeper to his house,
and the gorilla slept in his bed.
Plus she would learn about locks and keys.
And when Grandma died seven days later,
they knew she would read the book to the baby
and blow on her belly and sing
Toora, loora, loora.
These are the things
the three sisters did and told us,
the grown ups who did nothing, but sit
like stones in our chairs, staring.