We called each other sister and played together

from preschool to puberty.

You were neater and richer. I was louder and wilder.

I was your only sister, and you mine.

 

We played together in parks, in malls and at summer camp,

ranging across our world, mapping it

with stories and games, vows and vendettas.

Many travelers passed through that world. But only we created it.

 

Red bound us, and our toy nations,

Animal Crossing, and Pokemon.

The world was an easy conductor to our union.

 

It was not the passage of time that broke us,

but rather our awareness of it. Suddenly our lives sped up

and we scrambled to catch them. We knew

 

we could carry only a few scraps of our childhood

across the hazy bridge before us. Some things must be shed.

With little pain, we grew

into a world where we weren’t sisters. It was a lucky break, leaving no scars.

 

Remembering you, I feel only a small sadness. We’re bigger now,

greater; the things we’ve gained

surely outnumber those we’ve lost.

There’s nothing we should mourn, nothing destroyed

by our parting, except

a sisterhood.