Psalm for my Sister

this is the poem i wrote my sister for her graduation, since i couldn't be there in person...

Psalm for my Sister

if you were a tree, to make my embrace,

i would grow the largest, doing much

as any leaf does, when bathed in the sun

gathering rays for nourishment and love.

none would absorb more warmth than me,

while you withdraw water from the ground,

vitamins and minterals, growing branches

out further and farther to hold us all down.

i’d see more than any, being your biggest leaf.

if you were stargazing, your mind reaching

out to the stars at night, pinpoints of light

seeping down through darkness and piercing

your sight to home visions behind your eyes,

i would be the largest constellation in the sky,

a glimmering armor-clad knight with buckler

swinging out, blocking away shadowy tufts

and a sword striking at the moon, turning

it’s dark side away, so you could see it shine.

or you could gaze at the sky during the day,

and i would be a cumulus and make shapes,

like so many ridiculous balloon animals with

soft fluffy edges, powdery white, waving

across the horizon, like an old snuggly blanket

slowly floating down over you from the sky.

if i were a hamster stuck in a wire cage,

i would share it, if you got stuck too,

my exercise wheel and hamster maze,

all colors and twists, loops and rounds,

running so many circles until we got out.

if i were a bird soaring, saw you in unsteady

flight, i would give you one of my wings,

sing you a song, each beat to the rhythm,

to help you reach the breeze and fly free.

if i were your brother, if you were my sister

i would tell you how very much you meant,

to the world, to your family, to your friends.

i would make you laugh when you were down,

i would hang onto words, and grab onto ideas,

glad that you would share apart of your world,

feeling the crush in my chest from your heartaches,

suffering stabs in my skull from your headaches,

smiling like i found diamonds in glittering eyes,

when happiness escapes from your glowing face.

though we were not born of the same seed or blood,

or place, we have indeed grown of the same mind,

not biologically related, but still in kind: you are my

psychological sister, of the heart, and of the soul,

my golden sister in this life, as our times unfold.