Let me

rise by bending over

to pick another

sister

fallen

Let me be

the one on a chicken bus

to give the woman with a child on her back

my seat

because i know with no doubt

her mother like my own

taught her the same

that if she finds me in her place

no doubt she would do the same for me

Let me be silent

in the face of adversity

yet speak my peace quietly

teaching the next sister

to speak with love

and repremand with the same

let me rise

by bending over

to pick another sister

fallen

without pomp or fanfare

purely reaching out

to the woman in me

Let me be

my sister’s keeper

not to be remembered

by mere words spoken

but by every life my life touched

by every sore my hand touched and soothed

let me

let me be my sister’s keeper.