POEM - When Her Sister Goes Off to College

She thinks about the time in the near future
When her sister goes off to college.
She wonders what she will do
When her sister gives her heart away to others.
I was grateful for the love
as possessiveness that bubbled up from the question.

She will be bored at first.
She will be a bit lonely
when her sister's heart is not her sole province,
when the geography of their love
must be explored by others,
mapped for others' use,
when their private language becomes public.

I think these things, but I do not say them aloud.
Instead, I tell her that the answer to her question
is as stark as the daylight:
that when her sister lends her heart
out to the world, like a library book
then you will let your grip on hers go
so that your heart expands just so.
This, I tell her, is how our own hearts grow.