Rival

This is a revised poem I wrote back in July.

 

Sisters,

I’m so tired of your constant

bickering and make-belief

sisters,

I am your sister

in between the both of you

must I choose sides?

 

Sister,

why must you tell of all secrets?

why must you not care of what we pain

as you expose our secrets to the world?

why must you want, want, want?

 

You take the side of the enemy

you sparked the fire between my friend and I

with on spill of secrets,

your lips were already greased with glycerin

I hear you want all the pretty things

I thought you had them all

oh, my stupidity!

 

Why break the eldest of hearts?

it is the most developed, but not the most wise,

young one

yes, it is the right to report you’re scared

but it’s a sin to drag it on to your little army

 

Oh, sin, sin, sin!

No,

not a single sin against you!

you expose our souls for our protection!

God is so proud!

you have embraced the hell of our presumed heaven,

this made you feel good,

this made you fear good

 

The heart in your chest

this organ’s beat

it cannot match up with

the speed of those greased lips of yours

 

 

 

 

Sister,

oh, sister of mine!

you are the eldest, and the least predictable

I would have never guessed

 

You tell of no secrets

pay for your own want

kill never, especially without purpose

and you ignore a little sin

for yours are far to great for ‘little’

 

Miles away you are

missing you more and more,

trapped in this lion den

I best get used to this, being eaten alive

‘didn’t my Lord deliver Daniel’

(not the Daniel I knew)

 

Why must we have touched our

fingertips now?

just now?

we could have done so years ago

I should have learnt to accept

your mouth and hands

and you should have learnt the same for me

why must we only enter through exits?

 

Sisters,

I cannot choose between you

the both of you have taken me for granted

I am a shield; a naïve casual-Christian

but NO!

I am anything but naïve!!

 

I have burned for years

under this roof with you

but now that you have

taken me off the heat

is it only for yourselves?

is it?!

   

I’ll shield one of you

hence my experience

I’ve been secluded and tortured

and I will continue to forgive

the other of you constantly

even after you tell of your love to me

and then spit out my bloody secrets

 

But sisters,

as I do this for the both of you

I can’t help but wonder

when will you live up to the name,

“sister”

for me?

 

Author's Note

As you can tell, this is about my older, and younger sisters. Things are very different now between us, so I thought I should post this now.

Reviews

[Jim Clarke]

The relationship between brothers and sisters is hard to fully describe in words. more than anyone else in our lives, we know our siblings, as they know us, better than everyone else. In a way, the only person who know us better than our siblings is God. Your poem captures the harsh reality that, even though we know our siblings well, we certainly do not always understand them. We also don't understand why our intimate knowedge of each other does not necessarily result in interpersonal devotion. You have captured this issue well within your poem.

[Legion]

I think you should let them read this. Probably won't change anything, but at least it will be out there and you can build (or finish tearing down) from there. Good write.