In the dream
I close my eyes and count backward from 276
the girls crawl feet first from their hiding places
behind the curtains where their feet stick out
under the bed untangling from a mess of limbs

A slit in the silence bursts open
and their voices fall out
calling each other's names
unlearning memory
bones melting back to whole

The ones who do not make it into hiding
shake their bodies loose from where they stand
suspended in time

They brush past me as they go
peeling back the skin of a thousand days
calling up the blood to dance beneath
their former faces still soft enough
for their mothers to recognize