You had no choice but to grow
Straight toward the sun,
While I got to curl around
The path that you left me.
We ran up and down
Our dusty dirt driveway,
Pieces of PVC pipe in our hands,
“Pewing” behind and in front of us,
occasionally telling one
another to duck.
You had to do everything first,
And on your own,
But when it was my turn I always had you.
We fought off orcs and orakei,
Jumping behind huckleberry bushes
And crawling on stomachs
to avoid arrows from the enemy.
I was never your obligation
or your “annoying little sister.”
Even though I sometimes
Refused to be quiet and sit still.
In a small clearing
of knee high, seeding, wild grasses,
Dotted with a few yellow dandelions,
We threw the neon orange Aerobie Ring
until we lost it in the trees,
And because I was the smallest
And could climb,
I would scurry up the thin branches
And unhook it
Before tossing it down to you.
I wove around you,
But my existence did not embed
Itself into yours,
Like an invasive vine suffocating another
In order to thrive.
You were always the one
Who suggested piggy back rides,
Or asked if I wanted
to play a video game
After I’d patiently watched
you play for hours.
Our lives forever intertwined,
Me, just a few years behind,
And a couple of feet below you.
I wonder what it was like
Having someone who looked up to you
As much as I did.
Out of breath
by the time it was getting dark,
Picking pine needles from my braids
While you put them back in,
We would walk home.
I was your escape from adulthood,
And you were my lead into make-believe.