Helen

I will paint the nails of your right hand and
always hold your ankles and promise that you're okay
we can forget to take our medication together
and shoplift trinkets and pine for bamboo rugs and that is what growing up is--
growing up is to catch a predator, and midnight ice cream runs,
and complaining about addiction,
and shrinking clothes, and figuring out
for the first time I don't feel always lonely,
only sometimes lonely,
but it helps to know that you're in reach
it helps to know that when I wake up in the middle of the night,
I can sometimes hear you breathing and know that you're ok.

I believe in you, go get 'em tiger.