Monday, September 21, 2009











A sister hen,
I snatched you
from playground bullies
and hard rain.

We touched tongues,
told lies,
shared gum
and tackled pain.

Fear that flashed
in your eyes,
when you swam
in water over your head,

has passed
now that you are grown
and the cold years
between us have melted

down, like dilly bars
dripped from
your chin.



Willow, 2009

Happy Birthday, Sis.
I love you.

58 comments:

  1. it gets no sweeter than this willow!!!! beautiful!!! steven

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  2. What a wonderful tribute to your sister! Why don't you tell my sister to write something for me??
    Also, I like the strawberry dilly bars. I'm just sayin...

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  3. This is the best present ever..a Willow poem written just for me! Thanks!

    And thanks for saving my life...on several occassions. :)

    xo

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  4. I can think of one particular occasion when you saved my life, as well. Just think, we're both alive today because we have each other! ~x

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  5. Beautiful....what a lovely gift....


    S

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  6. Beautiful poem Willow. You and your sister are both so lovely and blessed to have each other!

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  7. Lovely, Willow--very touching. Happy birthday to your sister!!

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  8. how sweet...dilly bars ...sisters finding and loving one another--precious-c

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  9. "like dilly bars dripped from your chin..." Love that picture of childish arguments and grudges melting away.

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  10. A big month for birthdays at the Manor Willow. HB to your sis, xv.

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  11. I love this. It so perfectly portrays sisterhood. I hadn't thought about it in years, but my sister and I used to "touch tongues," too! And that made me laugh...

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  12. And happy birthday from here, too! And beautiful new header. And magnificent poem. What else can one ask for?

    Manyt hanks

    Greetings from London.

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  13. Aha! So Betsy is your sister! Happy Birthday Betsy. Willow, I sure wish you were my sister to write such poems to me. Can you adopt me please and I will come to live in the manor? xx

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  14. Willow

    You have a wonderful gift with words-love your poem -- it brought tears to my eyes and memories of days past of my own. . .

    ditto - Happy Birthday to your sister, a blessing to have each other.

    Joanny

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  15. Lovely sentiments and beautiful words for Betsy, Willow

    Happy days

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  16. All I can do is to echo what everyone says. A beautiful little poem.

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  17. How special it must be to have a birthday poem written just for you. Happy birthday Betsy!

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  18. oh, happy b-day to your sister. You are both so blessed!

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  19. That's a lovely Happy Birthday poem - and I've just read some of your recent posts; wish I'd stumbled into here earlier.

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  20. I have just one sister, no brothers, and this just says it all! lovely x

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  21. Lovely, willow. I'm just beginning my next OU course which is Creative Writing and the third section is poetry. I'll have to come to you for some tips.

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  22. I haven't had a Dilly bar in years.
    Beautiful poem Willow.

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  23. WHAT A TRUE BLESSING TO HAVE A SISTER!!!

    I think your sis is super cool too!!
    Off to wish her Happy Birthday!

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  24. Beautiful. Damn you are SO talented!

    Love the new blog colors. Nice and soft and easier to read.

    Happy autumn, Willow!!

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  25. very touching willow. made me call my sister! have a blessed week.

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  26. Happy Birthday indeed. Nice post.

    Yes, we got Pat's computer back to its original condition but in the process she lost everything on it. So thank goodness for backups.

    Thank you very much for visiting Pick a Peck of Pixels and for the comment you left me there. Now I want to invite you to stop and look at my Canon camera photographs. They are some of the best I can or have taken. My Canon Blog

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  27. What a lovely, sweet poem. It brought tears to my eyes. Happy Birthday to Betsy!

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  28. How very sweet .. happy birthday to willow sis!

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  29. "and the cold years between us have melted."( misty eyed here ). Awesome homage to your sis, Willow. You both rock!

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  30. Nice! I'm always so sarcastic - I'll have to work on nice...

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  31. So very dear.
    A touching tribute, indeed.

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  32. Wellyou took a lot of persuading, but it was well worth the wait.A touchingly beautiful portrait of sibling love, Willow, I love it.Hard to isolate the best bits but, what a great start....

    ...A sister hen,
    I snatched you
    from playground bullies
    and hard rain.
    We touched tongues,
    told lies,
    shared gum
    and tackled pain.

    Thanks for joining in.

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  33. Oh Willow you have melted my heart with this poem. Happy Birthday to your Sis!

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  34. Lovely...a sister all these years and more years ahead. Such sweet memories! Happy Birthday Betsy!

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  35. Lucky to have each other..a sister like you who writes birthday poems..super!

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  36. As others have said, this is a beautiful, and touching poem, Willow.

    Makes me glad you had a sister to save.

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  37. I'm glad the "cold years" have melted away, instead of the reverse. So precious to have a sister!

    Beautiful images in the simple words and rhyme scheme of this poem.

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  38. Dilly Bars!!! A weekly trip to the Dairy Queen in 'Hotlanta' included slurping those dilly bars with my sister. Thank you for the memory, Willow! Lovely poem!

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  39. Hello Willow,

    A sisterly embrace in words. Lovely sentiments. And I wish I knew what dilly bars are!

    Shame about the photo failures.

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  40. Derrick, dilly bars are round, frozen, bars of vanilla ice cream dipped in chocolate...on a stick!

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  41. Wonderful poem, as always Willow. You have such a way with words. PS: I just wandered over to read about your ghosts. I don't poo-poo the subject at all! I've had several ghostly encounters that can not be explained away.

    Jen

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  42. What an amazing tribute to your sis!

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  43. If you elect yourself in the Challenge, you're in the challenge as far as I'm concerned! Liked this very much, deft and spare in the depiction of sibling love. Cool, Willow.

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  44. Very touching, Willow. I'm glad you made up!

    Happy Birthday Betsy!

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  45. Just lovely. thanks for sharing it with all of us. xxxx

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  46. Great poem, Willow, and a wonderful way to celebrate your sister's birthday.

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  47. Fantastic poem.

    You had me at dilly bars.

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  48. I have 3 wonderful sisters. This poem was beautiful and made me cry...happy tears because I love them!

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  49. Willow,
    I actually found your sis because of our common autism connection. I didn't realize until much later that you were sisters. I have five sisters and I could so relate to your poem. thank you.

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  50. I liked the cold melting bit the best. What lovely tribute. It sounds like you two really worked to forge the sisterhood bond you enjoy now. Bravo.

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  51. Catherine, five sisters? You are EXtra blessed!

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Inject a few raisins of conversation into the tasteless dough of existence.
― O. Henry (and me)