my baby sister

remember how you used to stick your belly out?
Just tsanding around
Like a balloon i watch you expand and contract
you breathe loundly, little one.
remember that time i came to visit you in your first apartment?
the first night you spent over the toilet
a bad falafel
and i take you to the clinic
where they don't speak english
and fight for you in a foreign tongue
didn't do you much good so we went to the hospital
more fighting, this time i fight my own tears
as the IV is stuck in your arm
remember this morning?
you wrote me a text message
told me you were on your way to the ER
i told you that you better tell me the next time you were sick
because the last time was my big gig and you hid it
so i wouldn't worry
but this time you tell me promptly
and i want to speak to the doctors
tell them that this is my baby sister they're treating
i want to hold your hand
it would be cold
long nails, painted a deep red i imagine