My Ghost

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
 in 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 shadowunder the sun's golden finger
 but when the sun sinks past the waving grass
 some shadows are dragged along
 alone, I took to drinkingbottles 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 splashingat the river's sparkling shore
 so I took my rusty gas can
 and an old iron shovel
 I set the woods to burning
 and choked the river up with stones
 every creature casts a shadowunder the sun's golden finger
 but when the sun sinks past the waving grass
 some shadows are dragged along