Call her Andromeda

You could see the pulse in the onion skin of her wrist

The bright red lipstick print on the edge of her Bible

She touched the delicate gold cross in the dip of her collarbone

The tips of her nails digging into the skin

Her lips tasted like the Sunny D she sipped to down the pills

That kept her hands from shaking

A lifetime lived inside her

A galaxy on the verge of collapse

And yet she smiled

Knowing that for even this short time

She could hold us all in the constellation of her cells

A million bright stars finally clustering

Stopping the blood from flowing

Yet she was happy for us

All of us.