My Ghost

we came in this world together

legs wrapped around each other

my cheek against my sister's

we were born like tangled vine

we lived along the river

where the black clouds never lingered

the sunlight spread like honey

in my sister's tiny hands

but while picking sour apples

in the wild waving grasses

sister stumbled in the briar

and was bitten by a snake

every creature casts a shadowunder the sun's golden finger

but when the sun sinks past the waving grass

some shadows are dragged along

alone, I took to drinkingbottles of cheap whiskey

and staggering through the back woods

killing snakes with a sharpened stick

but still I heard her laughing

in those wild waving grasses

still her tiny hands went splashingat the river's sparkling shore

so I took my rusty gas can

and an old iron shovel

I set the woods to burning

and choked the river up with stones

every creature casts a shadowunder the sun's golden finger

but when the sun sinks past the waving grass

some shadows are dragged along