My Sister's Tiny Hands

we came in this world together
legs wrapped around each other
my cheek against my sister's
we were born like tangled vines

we lived along the river
where the black clouds never lingered
the sunlight spread like honey
through my sister's tiny hands

but while picking sour apples
in the wild waving grasses
sister stumbled in the briar
and was bitten by a snake

every creature casts a shadow under the sun's golden fingers
and as the sun sinks past the waving grass
some shadows are dragged along

alone, I took to drinking
bottles of cheap whiskey
and staggering through the back woods
killing snakes with a sharpened stick

oh, but still I heard her laughing
in those wild waving grasses
still her tiny hands went splashing at the river's sparkling shore

so I took my rusty gas can
and an old iron shovel
and I set the woods to blaze
and choked the river up with stones

every creature casts a shadowunder the sun's golden finger
but when the sun sinks past the waving grass
some shadows are dragged along