A Family Resemblance

My sister has my hair my mouth my eyes

And I presume her trustless.

When she was young, and open to any fever

Wearing gold like a veil of fortune on her face,

She waited through each rain a dream of light.

But the sun came up

Burning our eyes like crystal

Bleaching the sky of promise and

My sister stood

Black, unblessed and unbelieving

Shivering in the first cold show of love.

I saw her gold become an arch

Where nightmare hunted

Down the porches

Of her restless nights.

Now through the echoes of denial

She walks a bleached side of reason

Secret now

My sister never waits,

Nor mourns the gold that wandered from her bed.

My sister has my tongue

And all my flesh unanswered

And I presume her trustless as a stone.