Dearest Anika,

Wow, thought I had lost this. This is a poem I wrote for my sister on her birthday in 2000. As incredible as it is to me that I felt so strongly about her then, I know that those feelings barely hold a torch to how I feel about her now.

Dearest Anika,

Yesterday we were kids and you couldn’t stand to have me around,
Today we are adults; time and age can make things so profound.
I’ve done nothing but love you from day one until now,
Spiritually, a part of you has grown in me, and it is easy to know just how.

You are my sister, and with that many things can be inferred,
But I’ve seen friends who have sisters and live a dream deferred.
You have provided a parental solace to a young man, who thought he only had one,
Looking back, even as a child, it’s difficult to discern when your actual duties begun.

You never asked for the role, but you took it as if it was always meant to be yours,
How does it feel to know that you helped rear a man who is now twenty-four?
Four years ago, I wrote a poem about you being the age that I now preside,
The maturity I spoke of then pales in comparison to what you now hold inside.

Long story short, my Sister, I owe you the biggest of thanks:

For being there when Mom couldn’t;
For telling me that those things I did, I shouldn’t;
For creating a safe environment for me amongst the guns and violence;
For scolding me for Mom when at times I became defiant;
For paving a path for me of DO’s and DON’Ts;
For showing me the clear differentiation between I WILLs and I WON’Ts.
For showing me that I should accept nothing less than what I have comin’;
For being a lot of things that I someday hope to find in a woman;
For guiding me forward sometimes with an invisible hand;
For being ever the consummate lady while showing me what it is to be a man.

You are and will always be revered for who you are to me,
My Sister…my dear sweet Sister, a page in a book that everyone ought to see!!

I love you always and forever,