My Sister's Tiny Hands

We came in this world together Legs wrapped around each other My cheek against my sister's We were born like tangled vine

We lived along the river Where the black clouds never lingered The sunlight spread like honey Through my sister's tiny hands

But while picking sour apples In the wild waving grasses Sister stumbled in the briar And was bitten by a snake

Every creature casts a shadow Under the sun's golden fingers And as the sun sinks past the waving grass Some shadows are dragged along

Alone, I took to drinking Bottles of cheap whiskey And staggering through the back woods Killing snakes with a sharpened stick

But still I heard her laughing In those wild waving grasses Still her tiny hands went splashing At the river's sparkling shore

So I took my rusty gas can And an old iron shovel I set the woods to blaze And choked the river up with stones

Every creature casts a shadow Under the sun's golden fingers And as the sun sinks past the waving grass Some shadows are dragged along