and in the beginning, we collected and assembled the bleached bones of birds and explained to the children that once there were animals who flew through the sky and sang from trees. We recalled their songs when we lullabied our children into sleep. We drew roses in the dirt, described their petaled velvet and their underside of thorns. When a dandelion pushed up through the cracked cement of what had once been the library, we built a fence around it and took turns standing vigil: Spelling yellow for the children. Praying. Offering up praise songs like canaries in a mine.