A Good Leader

Sister Gone Beyond

I still sense you squeeze my shoulder
in my dark, tight moments
when there’s no clear solution,
see you shake your head, hear you say
there’s always a way out.

Your current pulled fast and sure
where I wanted to go
it made such sense to follow
but were we both wrong
to drift so freely, so far?

Eddying up alleyways
where you found the holds
my small hands could grasp,
erased the shouting with your soft
voice late at night.

You said I shouldn’t
judge myself against others,
you said those gilded girls at school
would have flopped at our lives
as spectacularly as we did.

You scaled walls, reached down for me
to lead us out of corners,
sorting, sifting, much shop-lifting
was I no more than salvage,
or were you my slave?