Looking for Verdeleine

my mind’s eye threads through
the small spaces between walls
looking for her, between walls
which used to stand ten feet apart,
but now lean against each other
as drunks do after a long night on the town.
my nose would sniff the dank air,
hoping to fill with the scent of her,
of innocence and youth, not just the odor
of settling dust, the smell of bodies
devoid of life, the smell
of decay, the smell of death.
is her small body which was dressed
in a sparkling clean white pinafore
hidden beneath pyres of crushed stone,
or does she hold her mother’s hand
as they stroll together in the
early evening.

Verdeleine is the name of a little girl I have been sponsoring in Haiti through USA Plan.  I have not yet received news as to whether Verdeleine or her family have survived the terrible quake.  I worry about her and the staff there.  Please consider contributing to any of the many organizations which are providing desperately needed humanitarian aid to Haiti.