SISTER

For My sister on her B’day!!!
One Summer night,
Heat in my small bedroom,
Windows open some cool hovering outside,
It was late, maybe 11:30 p.m.
When you’re 12 that’s late.
You laughed.
Someone else was there too,
A boy maybe, I’m not sure.
But there it was again,
Your laugh.
It was such a good sound,
It made me want to be older.
Like getting older was going to be great,
Because you got to stay up late and laugh like that…
You would watch old movies,
And then put those qualities
Into your life, your family, your things.
Fred Astaire, Ginger Rogers, Cary Grant, Grace Kelly.
Such old world grace,
Where how you greet someone,
And treat them, when they come into your home,
Matter more than anything.
To my lovely, elegant, beautiful and graceful sister,
On her birthday,
I hope you stay up late and laugh.