Dear pal,

I remember.

I remember how your hair

Shone like burning embers,

Though your eyes

Were the color of ice.

 

Dear pal,

I’m sorry.

I’m sorry

It was you

And not me.

I’m sorry you had to go

So soon, but here I still am.

I’m sorry

You were only seventeen -

But you outlived anyone

I’ve ever known.

 

Dear pal,

I miss you.

I miss your voice,

Your laugh,

Your smile,

Your smell.

I miss you.

 

Dear pal,

I’m making you proud.

You shone so bright

You were a sun in

So many lives

And I, I preferred

To be your shadow.

 

Now I shine for you.

 

Signed,

Your little sister,

Who grew to not be so little

Thanks to you.