Photo by Mirjana Veljovic

An oasis of sisterhood
stretched through the years
a safe space with no room for malice
or the tired battles of competition

How grateful I am
for the whispered secrets
the phone calls where we
unravelled the knots in each other’s lives

I think back to distant moons
both sheltered by parental love
but not immune to the passions of childhood
perspective looming like a grotesque carnival

We took comfort in the certainty of youth
though we had not long outgrown
pigtails and finger-painting,
the delicious oddities of us

Change lies, both ahead and behind us
relentless, like a bull to a matador
life races on, yet still
you chisel out time for your loves

We pause, sun spooling against brown skin
yachts bobbing on blue silk
yellowed palm trees and wisps of cumulous
on the threshold of your new journey

A moment of perfect respite
Let us sear it onto our brain tissue
before the storms of life return
and I know, you will weather them well

My beautiful friend