[Poem] Reopened
2008-11-09 @ 1:16 a.m.
I have preserved these memoriesLike broken butterflies in amber,
Each one carefully positioned,
Reconstructed,
Eternalized
And now I know you know.
And there will never be enough "I'm sorries" for my silence ...
But we're together,
And as you stand,
I will stand right beside you.
I remember.
I remember.
I remember what he did.
I remember the way you said it,
The way you told me,
Confession of a six-year-old,
Rambling and innocent,
But now you're scarred.
Growing up changes the perspective.
What was once confusing
Becomes a cut,
Deep,
Bleeding,
Infected.
I remember.
I remember the disbelief,
The pushing-away of the terrible idea.
I remember my silence.
Lips sewn shut with fear and a sick reverence
For the unholy act.
It was too terrible to speak of.
And then ...
... Then it happened to me.
And I've never stopped regretting that I branded you a liar. Never. Never. Never. And I never will.
No; that regret will be with me until my dying day.
We are sisters in a way.
I've always wished I could have preserved you
From what he did,
But you can't take back the past.
I would gladly have taken your scars.
I've spent more than half my life wishing
It could have been me --
Just to save you, the younger.
And now I know that you did it to save her.
You were the martyr, you died to save us. Both of us.
I'm sorry. I'm sorry ... I'm sorry.
But cousin, I remember.
We are blood. We are sisters. We have lived.
Sister, I remember.
These wounds have been reopened,
And I will be with you as you heal.