-Bough Breaks
(Based on H. Dorn’s Rock-a-bye) 

She stares up at the stars,
Lying on the soft crunchy mattress
Of leaves beneath her tattered cotton blanket.
The heavy summer air covers her body.
Her hazel eyes’ ever changing iridescence
Obscured by murky opal 
A sticky halo
Crimson,
Nearly black in the darkness
Defends her.

She is not ashamed of the orangey van
With no seats
Only crates
And a flat spacious back
More suited for hauling lumber than children.
She is part of nature, now.
The gentle hand of dew
Has loosened the rope
That burned and itched her wrists.
It slid beneath the sliver of gray
And the nudge of the breeze freed her lips.

She is at peace.
No past.
No present.
All future.
She doesn’t notice 
The absence of a roof
Over her head
A big oak branch
Hangs down-
An old friend
Watching
Over her bed
Of dry leaves
Her home eternal.
No one can hurt her now.

She doesn’t know
Why her mom is so sad,
After all-
Who needs a roof
When you’ve got Orion’s Belt?