Dear Sister Birthday Poem, 2016

I have always been amazed at your hands
electrical, bird like - delicate
as we danced as children together
no other partner was ever better than you - it was very brief our time together
dancing as children
because we often fought - we sang together too
I was always amazed at how you could harmonize - I finally learned how
myself so I too could sing alto. I’ve been singing in harmony ever since.
never yet found a partner who could sing like you till my daughter came along. We sing
together like I used to sing with you. We fight too. Like I used to with you. And now I
see your hands reach up, delicate, electric, and desperate and I hear you say, “I am
haunted by the way I deride myself every day” and I think how like me you are.
I cannot get enough of looking at you. Here away from that place - home - where I could
barely look at all - I can see you - in your home with your children. They both look just
like you - And I say to myself - just as I am blind to the beauty of myself I am blind to
my children and as I delight in myself I delight in them. And believe me your children
are exquisite as you are - I can see that in you - that you do not see that - Just as I do
not see that in myself. But you are exquisite. Happy Birthday, Love Tina