EIGHTH DECADE SISTER
Robert Thimmesh
A bewildered sister stands
at the end of independence road,
evicted from her private quarters,
for not loving her landlord as her
daughter does, to a refuge at
her sister's place, a place with the
usual territorial markers---
bric-a-brac emitting the
odor of possession.
She resents the love that decides
her meals, resents the destiny to
which she cannot say yes and the
future which embraces all of us.
Dependence. An ugly head rises to
capture her spirit from the plain of
free soaring hawks. Her valley of
memory listens to words she long
ago spoke---It is for your own good; you
will thank me later.
Now she knows, like her children
then, the relentless truth that has
pursued forever. It still hurts.
Her tears flow.
