SHADES OF GREEN
(To My Sisters)
Your eyes are blue-gray...
Shades of green.
I wonder what
Your eyes have seen.
I wasn't there
When you were small,
To help you get
From short to tall.
I didn't comb
And braid your hair.
When sisters play,
I wasn't there.
No hand to hold,
Or lunch to pack..
To show the way
To school and back.
I wasn't there
To hear your cries.
I didn't come
To dry your eyes.
We never talked
The whole night long,
Or knelt in prayer,
Or shared a song.
Another time,
Another place,
A woman's smile,
A woman's face.
Your eyes are blue-gray...
Shades of green.
I wonder what
Your eyes have seen.
Victoria 1984
(To My Sisters)
Your eyes are blue-gray...
Shades of green.
I wonder what
Your eyes have seen.
I wasn't there
When you were small,
To help you get
From short to tall.
I didn't comb
And braid your hair.
When sisters play,
I wasn't there.
No hand to hold,
Or lunch to pack..
To show the way
To school and back.
I wasn't there
To hear your cries.
I didn't come
To dry your eyes.
We never talked
The whole night long,
Or knelt in prayer,
Or shared a song.
Another time,
Another place,
A woman's smile,
A woman's face.
Your eyes are blue-gray...
Shades of green.
I wonder what
Your eyes have seen.
Victoria 1984
Painting: Girl And Wall (my lovely daughter-in-law Natalie)
