Systir Min

Systir Min You and I are in the echoes of the past Two toe-blond heads, lit like fire in the never ending summer Folded in the smells of the desert Brightly colored clothes, that bob up and down in the fields Like ornaments that decorate clay and dust Do you recall, the sound of our Sunday dress shoes Slapping the silence away happily in cement courtyards? We tossed those carnivorous things aside in favor of crab grasses And chasing droplets of waters down sun spattered noses Systir Min Do you recall, all the summer dresses Mamma sewed? The hum of the motor whirling round and round, Pedal jumping fiercely under her solid Scandinavian foot Love-filled fabrics built like armor With all the threads she had to give, to send us into the world No amount of turns I gave you on our bike Could fill you with enough memories in which to hang your dreams I know this now, that no strength in any armor, or any thread could save you To keep you pushing through shoes, trying on dresses, driving to work Systir Min I will find you someday again Spinning in floral patterns in our never ending summers And only then, will I have learned enough about the secrets So that I can teach you this time, how to believe