constructing poetry

for my sister, Rose

I was sixteen when she was born,
a tiny thing, so easily cradled
in the crook of my elbow,
and I wanted to shield her,
to stand between her and hurt.
twenty-five years later . . .

I think of her voice—clear and pure,
and the way she moves effortlessly
from one melody to the next
as the phrase takes her,
and I laugh as the song
changes to where I cannot follow.

I think of color—
bright rainbows and wheels
and dark landscapes, fireworks
and flowers and shades and hues and
permutations of color
that my untrained eye can
only glimpse as she
points them out with artist’s fingers.

I think of eyes.
I see things differently
knowing that the words
that come so clearly to me
are reduced to colors and shapes—
words coming last to her,
and I long for her world
where other people's meaning
is shadowed.

I think of those hands,
that laugh,
the puzzled look she gives
as she tries to understand
a world that isn’t as honest
as she needs it to be—
and I want to shield her.
but I can’t.

she’s too tall to fit
in my shadow
anymore.

line count: 40

Prompt 8 ▼

Theme: A special face at Christmas. A loved one: a best friend, a child, a spouse, a parent. A person who is real; not a book character. Someone you see, if only occasionally. Someone alive. Write it TO that person, FOR that person specifically. Use their name as your title. IE: My husband - Ken or My Child - Rob. ( or some variation along those lines that gives the relationship in some form.)What do they look like? What about their face gives you joy? Makes you feel some emotion? (safe, warm, loved?) Tell us about them by how they look. (When looking at you, laughing etc.) NOT what they do, but what you see and how they make you feel when you look at them.

Words to use: no specific ones today.
Forbidden words: face, you, (changed my mind after an hour and a half trying not to use that word.) <---NOTE lined out word!

Additional parameters: Rhyming or not, (or a combination) and at least 20 lines.