She comes downstairs
with one foot in a Lego box
I’m a robot
she says to me in a robot voice
but it’s the gap between her front teeth
that I am looking at
when my husband tells me our friend’s mom
has six months to live
the edge of life coming at her
like a train barreling down
and she can do nothing now but wait
on the tracks
I am still staring
at my daughter’s smooth little face
and the gap in her smile
it looks like a tunnel
and I want to tell our friend’s mom
I have found a secret place for her to hide
a hole in this awful plan
where she can stand to the side
and the train
will pass right by.