Death Stalked My Sister

This is the news station my sister Kess works for covering the accident that killed my other sister Joy. I so love & admire my youngest sister Kess for being willing to go on camera & be interviewed to make sure Joy’s story was told right. I doubt I could have done it.

https://www.waaytv.com/content/news/Family-remembers-Huntsville-woman-killed-in-tragic-crash-501291251.html

This is the poem I wrote:

And Followed Her Inside

To oceans and rivers

She was forever tied

To water and drowning

To death that ever lied

Until it drove a pickup truck

And followed her inside

Joy was my first best friend

I was her annoying shadow

She liked to tease and instigate

That’s how her love did show

We played at being mermaids

Sirenas of ocean flow

We learned to speak a language

Not our native tongue

Living in Venezuela

When we were both quite young

She had an ear for music

For HER Spanish sung

To oceans and rivers

She was forever tied

To water and drowning

To death that ever lied

Until it drove a pickup truck

And followed her inside

For five years we lived overseas

And such adventures had

Four lively sisters

With our mom and dad

We had a sheltered life

Before things went so bad

She once stopped me from drowning

I’d ignored my father’s call

I walked until my foot did slip

Atop a waterfall

She reached her hand and grabbed me

And saved me from the fall

To oceans and rivers

She was forever tied

To water and drowning

To death that ever lied

Until it drove a pickup truck

And followed her inside

The first of the tragedies

Came with deafening sound

In Puerto Ordaz Venezuela

A firecracker round

Was thrown in through a window

And landed on the ground

Right next to Joy’s desk

Exploding by left ear

The world went blank and silent

And nothing could she hear

For almost seven days

Before the ear did clear

To oceans and rivers

She was forever tied

To water and drowning

To death that ever lied

Until it drove a pickup truck

And followed her inside

The second strange occurrence

Came falling from the sky

Joy and her friend Jef

Were merely riding by

A road construction worker

Fell from a bridge on high

She thought her friend was dead

So much blood was all around

The roof had buckled inwards

With a devastating sound

But the blood was from the faller

The friends each other found

To oceans and rivers

She was forever tied

To water and drowning

To death that ever lied

Until it drove a pickup truck

And followed her inside

She studied to teach Spanish

High school teacher through and through

The students they all loved her

It was what she loved to do

Until they took that fateful trip

With tragedy so true

They went to Costa Rica

To take in all the sights

They learned and shared so much

Through several days and nights

The last day they went rafting

Beyond the city lights

To oceans and rivers

She was forever tied

To water and drowning

To death that ever lied

Until it drove a pickup truck

And followed her inside

But the rapids were unkind

And though she was a swimmer

She might’ve tried to save a man

And dove without a glimmer

Of what was waiting for her

Or how she’d not remember

Afterwards her brain was lost

Her care was everything

Our mother took the lion’s share

With all of us helping

Until our mommie’s heart did fail

Sister Q the new life ring

To oceans and rivers

She was forever tied

To water and drowning

To death that ever lied

Until it drove a pickup truck

And followed her inside

My sisters they were sleeping

When death came to entice

It shook the worlds foundation

With vengeance and with vice

Such devastating power

Crashing walls like paper rice

Kess my youngest sister

Was just two rooms away

As walls came falling down

And plumbing broke to spray

Dust and smoke were flying

As she ran into the fray

To oceans and rivers

She was forever tied

To water and drowning

To death that ever lied

Until it drove a pickup truck

And followed her inside

In the air to Mexico

I heard not the alarm

Ringing through the stratosphere

Our Joy has come to harm

My feet kissed foreign soil

As the world lost all its charm

My anger is an unhinged beast

Wants to destroy that man

Who stole my sister from this world

Without a thought or plan

I want to hit him with a truck

And end him if I can.

To oceans and rivers

She was forever tied

To water and drowning

To death that ever lied

Until it drove a pickup truck

And BURIED her inside

And yet all around my rage

Such blessings do abound

Joy would see the joy in it

Just stop and look around

For as she’d say in her own way

They always can be found