georgiana

indefatiguable,
you baptized the cat and
used all twenty-seven of my
smartly packaged antiseptic towelettes.

wide-eyed,
your baby brother watched you twirl
archly through mum's violets with a soft fluid
whoosh.

rosy, flushed,
you snapped your femur into
three or four pieces,
a red and white jigsaw puzzle
of mangled warm blood,

your cherub's face cracked and
tarnished with a wail.
the throb of your pulse the small flutter of
a bird's wing under my heavy thumb,

the sky flushing purple like watercolor,
the world all topsy-turvy like when
those fat-free popsicles turned out to have
23 grams of sugar.