How to Explain Death to Your Daughter

Originally published in the St. Paul Almanac’s Impressions series; broadsides available for $20

Tell her on a cloudless afternoon –
a Sunday in November, maybe,

after the leaves have fallen
and the ground’s first hard freeze,

or during spring’s first inkling
before the buds or birds are back.

When she asks questions
that are impossible to answer,

touch the top of her perfect head
and say that death is necessary, as natural

as sugar dissolving in a glass of lemonade
leaving its essence to linger.