Lily
No one would take her when Ruth passed.
As the survivors assessed some antiques,
I kept hearing, "She's old. Somebody should put her down."
I picked her up instead. Every night I tell her about the fish who died for her, the ones in the cheerful aluminum cans.
She lies on my chest to sleep, rising and falling, rising and falling like a rowboat fastened to a battered dock by a string.
By Ron Koertge