SISTER

If God were to let me see you in our mother’s womb,
Curled like a fragile, vulnerable half-being,
Too tiny for recognition, too precious to touch -
Your shadowy light reflecting in the darkness
Would have pierced my soul.
To think I could call you my own, little thing!
Yet devious deciet - false first impressions!
My unsung devotion, your quiet sleeping –
Dismantled in an array of escalating noise!
Loud crying, screaming, wailing, shouting
For fifteen years my ears have endured.
Chatting, laughing, smiling, hoping,
Seeing you blossom and burst into
The very least of me! All that I can never be.
My shy demeanor shakingly embracing
Your wild outbursts of fun and chaos.
Our opposition sometimes becoming heated,
But ending in endless joy and love.
I’ve watched you grow, stumble, and fly –
Staring at parts of me in the mirror you live;
An empowering of knowledge and creativity –
Sometimes beating me at my own victories!
But my soul would sing for you today,
(Only you would not hear it, even if in tune!) –
Of how I love you and am blessed
To call you my sister by blood and heart.