She is my Sister - Pamela Mytroen

I fall asleep to the petty whine
of a full refrigerator
while my sister’s heart hammers
to the relentless rhythm
of staccato gun-fire and crescendo sirens
Screaming closer.

She draws her knees to her chest
beneath fear-soaked cotton
while her babies cry for a lullaby.

Oh Singer! She is my sister.
Would you wrap your melody-shawl
around her shoulders
and rock her gently in the poem of your love?
And when at last her lashes brush her cheeks in sleep
would you chase the dirge from her darkness;
breathe quiet into her night?
And peace?

She is my sister, though I don’t know her name.

May her dreams hum with harmony until at last her ancient troubles
Drum the new day,
And then as despair meets dawn,
even then, would you trace the phrase of her stretch-yawn-stretch
with your smile?
and would your hope-kissed lyrics linger the morn
on her lips?

For she is my sister,
and You know her name.

 

 

~ by Pamela Mytroen