It started with a baby sister
Happy as can be
At nine months she started walking
And one year she started talking
At 16 she would drive
And 18 she would become an adult
But at 3 years old it began to change
Everything turned around
I came home to my sister,
Still a baby in my eyes,
Complaining about a headache
So excruciating that even I couldn't stand
Dad thinks nothing of it and brushes it away
But mother worries much more
She called the doctor with no delay

Men in gowns struggle to seize my little sister,
Tugging on my father’s pants
Along with anything else she could get her small hands on.
I taste a salty substance on the corner of my mouth,
It hurts me to see my baby sister fight
When she hasn’t any idea what’s going on.
The wooden chair with a blue cushion
Hugs me as I sit down the way my sissy does.
Both my father and I catch a glance at one another
We quickly look away,
For no one wants to say a word to each other.
Although our minds can’t tell us the reason
Of why we are seated in the hospital chairs,
We all know that the news could be terrifying

A year of medication and radiation goes by until I visit my sister
This time, her own hospital room
While she lies, close to breathless,
A scarf over her head
So no one would know what is or is not beneath
The sores on her mouth fill up her beautiful lips
The meals from the night before are simply set aside
On the table farthest from her bed.
Her pale face surrounds her black and blue bags under her eyes
My baby sister looks like a different person,
Now four years old,
And no one knows whether her weakened body
Will make it through the many days she has left to live
She no longer has the power to open her eyes
When I tell her that I love her.