#4 of 6 from The Things It Carried series

And still, the woman, the soft fire woman grows till tall, till broken, till strong. She clasped her hands and screamed to God and prayed that the sun remain; even if it burned her, even if it burned you, even if it melted the shadow from our bones. She prayed you the summer, breathed you in like solace (you, with your scar tissue body).

But still, you outgrew her in your sleep without enough language to thank her.

The Things It Carried speaks about what the body holds, the change, the trauma, the identities.