I knew your name
Before I knew your father.
Keiyah Marie
Named after Arthur’s brother
and a cat.
It would have made you laugh
when I told you.
He dreamed of you
after we met.
Woke me up
talking to you
in his sleep.
You wouldn’t stay out
of the dog’s food.
We named your brothers
laying in bed, laughing.
Francis Arthur
and Hannibal Alexander.
Of course,
you would all have
my last name.
But you,
my girl,
my sweet girl,
we talked about
in quiet voices
laying in nests of sleeping bags
in front of the fireplace
after loving.
How you would
make us laugh,
how you would
drive us crazy
with your sass
and endless questions.
You would have had
strawberry blond hair
and eyes like his
blue gray green.
Changeable things.
It broke my heart
not to be able to
give you to each other.
He already loved you
so much.
So did I.