"Guardian" by Karina Borowicz

A tiny animal kept close to me on a string.Warm and precious wool, a little black lamb whose faceis a miniature universe.  Then the dreamshifts, I'm walking along my childhood beachand there's a doll's arm in a nest of seaweed,a leg pokes from the parted mouth of a bluequahog shell.  Keep walking.  A doll's red-cheekedface, golden curls tumbling in the foamthat pumps in and out at the shore like the edgeof a huge heart.  But it's not up to me to putthe doll together.  It's understood:  I'm here to guardseparation, preside over the widening drift.