It’s been a little over three years.
Can you believe how fast they’ve gone?
It feels like yesterday that we all spent the day at the Aquarium
You, in your wheelchair, laughing at the fish and the sloth
You, in a fresh ballcap, struggling with English
You, clicking your teeth and twiddling your beautiful brown hands,
the ones like West Texas mountains,
that must be busy once again
Mowing God’s lawn

Your death contracted our family
Sandwiched the generations down
to a mere 30 years’ difference
We are shuddering down, like an old wheezing Datsun
Childless, niece-less, nephew-less
We’ve built a moat
We are an island
Sole witnesses to the hardening
of my blessed saint