Was it a dream or waking vision
I don't remember
only that the light from off her face
was almost blinding
“Stephen - it’s Caroline, your guardian angel!
I’ve been assigned
the task of looking after you
a penance for the ways I failed my son
your grandfather,
when he was just a boy.”

That was some years ago and now
I’ve come across
the girlish diary she kept
back in the 1870s
and on the inside cover
she signed her name
Carrie - the same nickname
same spelling
my wife Carroll grew up with
and is still called by members of her family.
I wonder - in some future life will I
be pressed to look after a great grandchild
I'd never in this life had the occasion
to meet - as we say - in the flesh
and will it be a penance
for past cruelties or past neglect
or a delight or just another step
along the way