Today, 9th May, 2020, is my late sister’s birthday. Heather would have been 64, just fourteen months younger than me and we grew up like twins. In 2009 she was taken from this world following a battle with throat cancer.
Before I discovered fiction I used to do a lot of life writing. These days however, I write fiction and use my characters to pass on my pain. It really is great therapy. You should try it.
Anyway, because it is Heather’s birthday, I thought I’d share a sonnet I wrote a few years ago.
One became Two
First there was one and then one became two,
the day you arrived was Bobbsey for me.
From that day on we were inseparable,
two girls dressed the same, as twins like to be.
We’d sing to vinyl forty-fives and step
sideways in routine, both arms wide up high,
drink tea and trick Pisha Pashya with decks
of cards or flirt with boys making them shy.
As we grew taller and ripened in years,
the time came to go our separate ways,
you soared over wild waves high in the air,
to fulfil your dream, gone were jester days.
Malignancy struck, you fought a fierce war,
battled and lost, leaving one – as before.
Patricia M Osborne 
Beautiful poem, Tricia.
LikeLike
Thank you, Maureen x
LikeLike
Very moving. I too lost a sister, brings back memories. You are right about writing as cathartic.
LikeLike
It’s hard, isn’t it, Rani, especially when really close?
LikeLike
You’re right. I don’t believe in the saying ‘time heals.’
Time only allows us to find different ways of coping with the loss. Your sonnet made me think, now here’s something I haven’t tried writing before. So I researched. Not easy, but going to give it a try!
LikeLike
I couldn’t agree more. Time doesn’t heal but what it does is help us to get better about putting one front in front of the other. I believe sonnets are covered in Module 8 of your WB course. Personally I prefer free verse as less restricting but closed forms are great for challenges.
LikeLike