Take me first.
I stood witness at the bed
As Mammy withered
To a stick, so small,
She couldn't cast a shadow.

Take me first.
I was one to agree
To stop the whirring machine,
And stood there
As Jimmy flat-lined.

Take me first.
Marlene asked me
If she was dying.
Thirty-nine is too young
To give an answer.

Take me first.
Daddy left in a hurry;
No good-byes in life
Or in death.

If I'm not taken first
Before my girls,
I will surely be second.

I warned you, son.
"Don't break her heart."
Now you think about that while I rip you apart.

I don't know what it is you seek,
but my sister is out of your league.
Failed to see how lucky you were.
Did not heed my warning when you texted her

What kind of ***** breaks up via texting?
The same little ***** that thinks bussing is flexing.
She'll move onto better, just for a toy.
She won't wait long for a mere busboy.

I could go on forever about things that you lack.
Like, interest, money, a life, a six-pack.
You'll never be good enough for my little sister,
but I hope she's moved on when you realize you've missed her.

As they grew older they grew further away
Withholding their love
Remote, with apparently little to say
No words, no tears, no kind of stuff
Falling from their distant lives
Living with new thoughts, lovers, wives.
A troupe of sons, gambling with time!

Alexander was a rotten son of a brilliant father
Misled by a mother’s lies
Into an oedipal outrage. Spurred to violence, rather
Then be a man he became a legend, pursued by biting flies.
Betrayal often leads to success,
The betrayer a psychological mess.

The love of a child evaporates
Evident in the lives of kings
The urge for power saturates
Ignores duty, gratitude, those kind of things.
But hell! So what?
We once, objects of their beaming infant smiles, received such a lot.

OK, Richard the First left his father to die alone,
John ripped the money from the dead man’s purse,
They then fought each other for the throne
Making a family feud undeniably worse.
Throughout history, the mothers taking new ambitious lovers
Caused greater angst amongst whole generations of brothers.

Families are rarely friends: brother fights brother
Sister quarrels with sister, battling incessantly,
Despising each carefully chosen lover
Examining each other critically.
The success of one initiates gloom,
A show of brilliance, a thunderous rain-wrenched boom.
  
Compared to great and legendary figures
Our problems are played out beneath a dimmer light
We drown our thoughts with liquor
Squabble like screeching bats in the night
No grabbing of swords, fastening of armour, beribboned horses
Our mundane arguments have tiny causes.

Orange canoe leaves and castling roots
   and a potpourri of rocks and twigs and mosses
     hailed my pathway.
Fresh, white flowers mingled with their rusted sisters
upon the ground, like copper-splashed jasper.  
        The canoe leaves curled
as the white and rusted flowers tumbled through them
like toppled teacups and feathered, Victorian party hats.  
     Their christened sisters mirrored them among the boughs above
and talked loftily about the treetops
      as the fallen ones chattered amidst *******
      and the roots dividing the tables of their tea party—
unaware, and heedless, of how far they’d fallen.

Side by side
Or miles apart
Sisters
Will always be
Connected by the heart .

A baby was brought into this world
but not without
preperation

Not without
Questions

Will she be an athlete
Will she like the color pink
She will be a blonde I think

The parents read the books
bought the diapers
had the showers

All leading up to 6:56 a.m.
On September 28th 2001

That was the day I met my beautiful little sister
She is 14 today and here are the thigs Ive learned
She loves the feeling of the wind as she runs
and hates anything green
She loves the movies we see
the books we read
and the laughs we share

But I hope she knows that the thing I love the most
is
HER

the leaves fall
and the trees groan
with the wind
and God is in each of us

we breathe
and bees circle; crowning our heads
the let us be -
they can feel us breathe
(they know we are just learning)

we fly
over the sound of our mother's cries
we soar
over the quiet echo of our father's worries
(we are above)
and God is in each of us

we breathe
and we are not afraid
no,
we are not afraid

i let my hair down
and my tired with it
if you listen you can hear
(the rest of the world is letting go too)

To experience a concert is unlike anything else
The roar of the crowd only matched by the boom of the music.
My mom, my protector, in the sea of raging people.
The music taking control of each and everyone of them.
She and her friends surrounding me,
Creating a wall between a little girl and the sea.

I do not remember exactly what was being played,
Or what was said.
But I will not forget the overwhelming feeling of awe,
As I watched my idol sang his heart out.

If you look years into the future,
You would find that same girl all grown up now,
Right by the stage at a concert.
My friends and I, we are now the protectors.
Keeping my sister shielded from the sea.
As she experiences for the first time,
The roar of the crowd, the boom of the music.
As she stands in awe,
Listening so closely as the band plays.

Each passing millennium and I'm left without.
A dying breed and here you stand in doubt,
But never leave me in my lonesome
Because it kills me and makes me stronger.
You wouldn't want to see who I've become,
You'd hate me like they did
And would wish me dead.
You gave your lives for me and I have disappointed you.
They say, "Weep child, for you have lost everything."
Others have said, "Stand mother, for we give you our faith."

It has been seven millennia since I've last spoken to you
And now I have my last favor to ask,
"Could you ever forgive me for letting you be my hearts?"