My red-haired Diana doll Came in the pink and blue Madame Alexander box In satin shoes that soon were lost, Lost too her curvy arms and legs When she went wading in the swimming pool Created in the sink of the downstairs powder room. My mother, though, at no small expense Took her to the doll hospital in New York From which, discharged, her limbs again Hung in elasticized grace. Still, there was a blemish on her face A patch where freckles had been wiped bare.
Thirty-five years later, she’s in my daughter’s care Who loves the tiny yellow checks, the lace On her best shirtwaist dress as much as I did. “You must have cut her hair,” My daughter says, and laughs At a bald spot behind the carrot bangs. One night Diana is left carefully on a pillow On the floor of a friend’s room; The ferret, who is allowed to roam, Bites Diana’s soft upper rubber arm Leaves an imprint of tiny teeth like death. My daughter weeps, then gathers up again unspoken This doll named for a pure moon goddess Who shows us what is loved when broken.
By Miriam Sagan
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