My Star

How can I miss you so much
When you have not been gone so long?

But then I remember-
It has almost been a year-

My tears fall only onto uncaring concrete and
To the grass that grows into flowers at my feet.

Now there are only songs in which I
See your smile

But never as bright, as
When you used to smile at me,

For no one’s smile could match yours.
From the day I was born, you all told me

I needed to be better than you all, but I knew
I could never be better than you.

Long ago I accepted that, but now you are gone and
You have left some large shoes that our family

Needs filled in order to live on.
So I have molded myself, tried to remake myself

To be like you.
For them, with love.