SISTERS
Eternal law has arranged
nothing better than this,
that it has given us one way
into life, but many ways out.
-- Seneca (4C – 65AD)
She doesn’t
do smiles
I sing when
she argues
her words are fiery
my songs are blue
we’re
joined by a history
thousands
of years old
moving in our blood
sending signals
even after
we manage
to put half
the world
between us, when one
is injured, the other bleeds
blood marks
each word
passing
between us
we possess alternative
versions of history
it does
make it hard
to joke, if
I laugh
she’s insulted
if she jeers, I tear up
whatever I
say
she says
the opposite
it appears the sister act
is a balancing one
an opera
singer is certain
to have a
stand-up comic
to trim her ego
if one joins the military
the other
enters a convent –
too close
to share a home –
no spouse the other chooses
is ever good enough
whether
they like each other
or not is
irrelevant
for love covers everything
belonging forgives wounds
we emerged
into this life
from the
same door
but will leave by different
exits each has created
possibly
thousands of miles
away from
the other
in the midst of strangers
but we will never
leave alone
– we will
take a part of the other
with us
when we go
and a song
we sang
together as
children
will accompany
our departure.
Lilija Valis and her sister have not agreed on many things during our life together and apart on three continents which offered war and festivals but we agree on this poem.
Lilija Valis has lived on three continents, in some major cities, including Washington, DC, and San Francisco when there was music in the streets and strangers hugged each other, published in book, literary and e-zine magazines, as well as nine international anthologies, and performed in public libraries, parks, old theatres, pubs, among other places. Asked to step side by COVID until it finishes its performance.
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