When I met my husband,
he brought me you.

Double dates
turned into
heart-to-hearts—
you became my friend.

Wedding bells rang.
We got married.
A new life began.
A friendship now
engraved in gold,
'till death do us part.

You hold me when I cry,
you hold me when I laugh—
we are
unblooded sisters.

I look at cradles,
and you hold my hand.
The years go by.

I blow out the candles—thirty.
Ten years
gone in a flash.

But I don’t look at cradles anymore.
There are tears in your eyes
as you ask why.

You see my eyes drift to him—
just a second,
but you don’t miss it.

You hold my hand,
telling me,
The way you’ve been moving
has always been him.

Don’t lose yourself.

And it hurts me,
because if anyone would know,
it would be you—
my heart-sister.

Brought to me
by a man
whose loyalty was never mine.

And still—
you were the gift he gave me
without meaning to.

Not his to keep,
but mine
in every way that matters.