Three

Milk leaking from an unseen place
on his tender chin
sugar-coated neon-colored cereal
stuck on the Power Rangers
decorating his jammies
hair uncombed and free
feet folded underneath
fleeced unpadded bottom
eyes clear and wide awake
as mom sits close reading the front page
of the newspaper
my nephew Tommy
who’s all of three
pushes aside the cereal box
and solemnly says, “I didn’t want
all those people to die.”