My Last Name

by Eric M. Schumacher

So I kept it, for me, so that I could remember those red stitches that mended my tear; so that I could remember those who mended me; so that I would remember to mend the tears I find; so that I could remember that there is a mend for every tear—even that cold, terrible, unnatural tear that has ripped my heart too often, and which will stop my own heart someday soon, I suppose.