just three, and already the word —
how do young parents find the strength
to love the unexplainable away?

when it should be just
skinned-up knees, or maybe
like a cold to shoo away?

with elsa and anna on a blanket
wrapped around a tiny chest
in a room and a city far away

just three, and who knows why, or why
the autumn haze like butter melts,
and they’d give limbs and heart and life
to take that pain

away