my sister’s birthday

Posted on May 9, 2012 by Susan L Daniels

Your eyes opened
47 years ago,
May 9,
the perfect Mother’s Day present
born a month early.

I knew this story
before I had words
to tell it myself,
heard it
repeated
by our mother
in the litany of births
women chant,
turning memory
into personal legend.

For 28 years
we were friends
the way only sisters
can battle &  forget
& come together again,

a force inevitable
& strong
as the plates of the earth separating
& colliding together underground.

Our quaking is over forever,
& today I will toast you
with Little Love Drops,
that sweet Delaware wine
you loved–
even the name
is too honeyed
for my tongue

yes, I now drink 1 glass
once a year,
in your memory

& I still
hate that taste

About Susan L Daniels

I am a firm believer that politics are personal, that faith is expressed through action, and that life is something that must be loved and lived authentically--or why bother with any of it?
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9 Responses to my sister’s birthday

  1. Noel Ihebuzor says:
    May 9, 2012 at 9:47 am

    weep not, child! dry your tears! sorrow no more! she rests now. That inevitable force may have taken her away, but it has not taken away the beautiful memories of time with her and the love that glows in your heart.
    beautiful verses – but let me single out

    in the litany of births
    women chant,
    turning memory
    into personal legend.

    and these

    a force inevitable
    & strong
    as the plates of the earth separating
    & colliding together underground.

    for special praise! simply stong and the excursion into plate tectonics creates a powerful and unforgetable imagery

    • Susan L Daniels says:
      May 9, 2012 at 1:47 pm

      Thanks Noel–again, no grief here, just simply writing out what I could not for 17 years–this is my sister’s birthday present, where I will gag down a wine I hate, in her memory–what we do for love 🙂

  2. unfinishedpractice says:
    May 9, 2012 at 12:31 pm

    This is excellent. I love that the tension is still present at the end.

  3. Jeremy Nathan Marks says:
    May 9, 2012 at 2:20 pm

    You have a lovely way of uniting emotions and the movements in our world. Your stanza connecting the bond of two sisters and the plates of the Earth is stunning.

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