I owe it to you, my dear sister who passed away 

far in the land of American dreams. 

I owe it to you that I could not be with you.

on the last leg of your journey there. 

I owe it to you who watched over my crossing the threshold

from childhood dreams to reality

when my heart quivered with an unknown fear

you gently brought me, with a firm hand

to face the facts of life I could not have known

but for your elderly guidance ,

next only to mother's firm grip on reality.

The moments of intimacy when we shared the knowledge deep in the vaults

like the two mermaids sitting on a rock.

I wonder now if my thoughts of you reach you and make sense

as they did before

when we took every experience of life 

to the brass tacks, and yet saw the light shining in the dark.

May everlasting peace be yours now

you who have gone beyond the rapture and the grief which life brings.