Marguerite

Marguerite wanders

by the isolation room door

a nurse tells her to get away

I don't mind her being here

don't mind the company

when she is back, she says to me

through the thick window

"Don't worry. God loves you."

maybe she knows

this is just what I need to hear

years later

during her group home intake

I will witness her 

setting her hair on fire

years after that

will see her dragging her belongings

across Public Square

I will not call to her

she has a rugged-looking guy

in tow, I feel she must at least

have some kind of protection

the nurse calls to her again

she turns and skitters off

down the dirt-tracked hallway