Photo by Frank Albrecht on Unsplash
Sister
You taught me how to say and spell my name
On an old wooden dresser at our farm house
You pointed to herbs in the garden, parsley and oregano
We put on old dresses and Dad's ties
We sat stoic at Aunt Bee's Easter table, fearful of breaking
Dishes and hearts and the code of manners
That we sisters as young women should be good
within that word, we made our own pact
We polished our boots, our Dad's boots, hardened from working
Construction and destruction of the old things to make new things
For long walks in lush forests, riding horses and planting for summer
That you hauled up the water from the deep well to cool us
Our wild curly hair dipped in those water buckets to cool hot head of July
Freedoms before the numbing routine of school
We held our secrets like candies to save and share
One by one, they melted away into the bigger world
When the wild children we were, became the women we are now
The Moment
like glass shattering
Cinematic and breathtaking
This was the super moment beyond
All other moments
The eraser of all practice
This would be permanent.
like a bonfire under
A new moon when
Secrets feel safe to come out
And within that night
A rush of all I ever said no to
Ran off the magical cliff into the ocean
Returning to the origin in desperation
say, yes? Finally and finally
Returning to myself
Play it Again
I play the piano
next to your easy chair
You read the paper in
A company shirt, carpenter pants
Between the politics and weather
I know you listen, you say
Play it again, please
I dance with you
Under my wedding tent
Twirl, spin, dip, laugh
melancholy letting go
And welcome triumph
Keep a song in your heart
A smile on your face
Play it again, please
I sit with you
the northeast train
With my iPhone
Explaining urban life
Is complicated
and show you
A video of your grandbabies
his laughter says
Play it again, please
I walk with you
In fields of oak, maple, pine
Backlit by a red sun and
The pace is slower
than it was
A sighting of clover
under a mushroom
see you hold sacred
the natural world
Play it again, please