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Printed from https://writing.com/main/books/entry_id/881578-my-sister-Rachel
by Rhyssa Author IconMail Icon
Rated: 18+ · Book · Contest Entry · #2081410
my entries for the Construct Cup
#881578 added May 8, 2016 at 12:32am
Restrictions: None
my sister, Rachel
I walked with her that night,
hoping to avoid induction.
her first baby,
my first niece or nephew
two weeks overdue.

down hospital corridors
and back again,
we paced and talked
and speculated about
just who would come,
tomorrow—and she shared
her worry. what kind of mother
would she be?

tomorrow came, my niece
with it, I stayed with them,
keeping watch over baby sneezes
while her mother slept.

nine years. three sons later,
(one dead too quickly),
I marvel at her strength.
even losing her eye
didn’t turn her bitter.
that loss was nothing
when she thought of her lost boy.

music was always her gift—
she played piano at four,
and worked pit with her xylophone
in marching band.
now she shares that gift
with her children.

they study together,
mother and children,
every morning, singing
with childlike zeal
of history and geography
biology and physics—
even her youngest
reciting facts that she defines
as they learn to ask—
to understand.

I’ve seen her lose patience,
but remain calm—
so very unlike my little sister
when we were young—
talking them down,
pulling them short,
picking her battles.

her home isn’t tidy,
but is full of music and
laughing. and it is strange
to think that my little sister
has changed so that I
think of her as mother, first.
a mother I would
be proud to be.

line count: 55

Prompt: 7 May

Alphabetical Word List

© Copyright 2016 Rhyssa (UN: sadilou at Writing.Com). All rights reserved.
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Printed from https://writing.com/main/books/entry_id/881578-my-sister-Rachel