Ode to my Sister

Any day now…

when they tell me this

I am already so tall

At the birth of the new moon

In the face of Mother Nature’s bright spring sun,

my mama’s hand is clenched around my daddy’s.

Another girl, they say.

When she comes into the world her cry is high and tiny

desperate as if she already knows

she was much safer in the womb

In my arms, she is placed

wrapped tight, already

mostly

asleep

I’ll be there for her

I tell her

I’ll be her other place

when the world is choking her

And the words become an oath

to my sister.