Page 20 - Contrast1998

Younger Sister Sleeping

I tum the knob to my sister's room
gingerly, as to not awake her.
I see her veiled in the darkness.
I watch her, as though I were watching
the delicate and intricate shaping

of a dove from a hard-edged block of ice.

An ice blue shrouds her from ankle to neck
in the evening's stillness like the way snow
evenly blankets-the backyard. Her chin

grazes-almost hovers-over the blanket, and her
tiny feet press against the wall. J
The features of her face--
lips, cheekbones, chin--

define themselves sharply like the folds of
an origami swan in the light seeping

through the entrance to her room. Her eyes are

shut tight, clams selfishly hiding opalescent pearls.
Her hair is tangled, knotted, like the
fiber strands of an ear of corn in tufts
of shimmering black. Her head is cradled
on three pillows, and now I know why

she stands so straight,lumbar curved, chin up,
shoulders of a Marine. I feel like a

skeptic who doesn't believe in miracles
and has just witnessed one.

Her tranquility and warmth pass through me
like the pervasiveness of a bonfire.

And I think I almost feel like my parents

when they saw that miracle for themselves

for the first time .

as that damp and warm tiny body

cradled in the arms of my mother, tucked
underneath her breasts, now cradled in a
cloudy and misty darkness

as a young woman.

Kris Sevillena

18