Memorandum

She waits on a star map,

spread across the floor, pinning
blue string in the shapes of
new constellations.

With each drive of the pin
into corkboard she bows her head
in silent prayer.

“I’m mapping out eternity,”
she says, “So we’ll always
have someplace to go.”

There is a sapphire spider
web wrapped around her fingers
and she pulls it into a ladder,
a cradle, a loop knot and
back out again.

“When the string ends,”
she whispers, pushing down
another pin, “that’s where
heaven is.”