One year gone, one year on,

but I remember you.

That little girl

with a cherry red flame of hair

that was to be the colour of your life,

hot and vivid and passionate.

I remember the fear in the eyes

of the young woman you became

when thay said you carried more life,

and the joy when she was born.

I remember your middle years

the sad days, and bad days

when you were lost and bottled

and not sure what you should be,

wife or mother or daughter or sister,

or something that you wanted to be

but didn’t know how.

I often wonder if there was any way

I could have made you like yourself.

I remember the look on your face

when love found you out at last

and the love on his face

when you looked at him.

His face is now unseeable.

I wish I could have made you happier

though I still don’t know how to do that

even for myself.

It isn’t a thing that comes easily

to anyone in our family.

I wish it was.

I wish you could have stayed.

I wish I had said everything

I should have said to you

when you were still here to hear.

Now you are simply

here in my heart.

I still remember you,

little sister.

I will remember you

always.