I do not know your names
Though perhaps I could find them if I searched
Nor do I know your faces
Only that there were three of you
And that you have been killed

I wonder if you were frightened
Or if it came so fast that there wasn’t time
I wonder if the eldest of you held the others
As the eldest should
As I would for my sisters
Or perhaps your father was there
For I am told he perished too
And perhaps the heat of death
Had to pass through his arms
To reach your faces
And steal your breath away

I cannot find your names
But, having looked,
You were two and two and an infant
Young enough, I pray
For God to have mercy on your souls
For though you had, I am sure, many sins
The chief among them was only this
That you had the wrong grandfather
And that he still lives.
—–
[Posted to the author’s Facebook and personal website 5/2/11]

Kristina Eaton lives in St Paul, Minn along with her husband and baby boy. She has a master’s degree in Biblical Studies from Singapore Bible College, where she wrote both of the poems included here. Despite enjoying her time in Singapore, she is very glad to be living again in a place with four seasons, trail walks in the woods, trees to climb, first snows, last snows, soft rains, road trips, and large libraries.