Sisters

We skip verses we don't know,

Humming the melody as infill.

Anything to avoid hanging 

Like a noose from weeping willows.

That twisting testimony 

You lie,

You camouflage,

I provoke

When backed into this bloodied corner,

Inescapable DNA

Demanding a picket fence,

Pressed dresses

And the ache of stones swallowed to keep quiet.

We carry legacies,

Secrets,

Cementing alliances so long as the tree stands.

I see the willow banded,

Leaves wither

And Time peck through skin.

Perhaps there is no need to hum

Now that the earth is dry,

Roots unhinged for lack of life.

Perhaps this is what it means 

To grow beyond the song

We once sang 

To stay alive.