The sweet aroma from coconut shampoo

Permeates the cells in the air

I sit silently as she washes the silvery fuzz

Which is all that remains of my hair

All is quiet except the sound of the water

Falling from my skin into itself

And my eyes fix on the gauze and dressings

That cruelly mock as they sit upon a shelf

A garment that used to belong to me

Hangs from the knob behind the door

It doesn’t know it will never touch me again

It doesn’t know I won’t need it anymore

It doesn’t know that part of my woman-ness

Has been removed by a surgeon’s knife

Tossed into oblivion with its treacherous cronies

All which betrayed their owners lives

Perhaps I am being silly for missing them

It’s their omissions that have me at death’s step

Why didn’t they tell me that they had been invaded

That they were being pillaged as I peacefully slept

We were so close from puberty till now

I was there at the moment they were born

I treated them kind and dressed them in silk

Allowed them kisses from the men that I adored

I am so angry at them right now

Why didn’t they fight the evil away

Why didn’t they damn her back to Hell

When she showed up at their front door that day

Why didn’t they tell my bones to suit up

‘Cause she was coming for them next

Or warn my liver that she was en route

And that she’d destroy it before treatment could protest

Didn’t they know that I was not done with this life

There was so much I still had not done

Didn’t they see all the plans I had made

And how happy I finally was

Perhaps I’m silly for asking these questions

In life there are no guarantees

Some bodies do tell their hosts of their troubles

Yet mine kept this secret from me

Yes, my breasts are gone but my breath remains

And my vision is clearer than ever

I used to think that I was all alone in this world

Yet someone has shown me better

She cleans the wounds where my breasts once lived

She sings as she rubs my feet

She brings me small portions of my favorite food

Even when there is no desire to eat

She prays with me and prays for me

She reads to me as I sleep

She forever has a smile for my eyes

When in secret her own eyes weep

She talks of future plans for me

Even though she’s well aware of the truth

I can hear death's ominous chime tolling loudly

And her eyes say that she hears it, too

Still, she oils my scalp and adorns it with scarves

The most colorful and silky that she owns

And she dresses my nails in pink and red

So that I feel a woman from my head to my toes

I wish that I had known long ago

All that I have learned now

That this love that I have been searching for

Has been hiding in plain sight, somehow

She is the best friend I never knew I had

Without this tragedy I would have sadly missed her

God showed his love when he made her mine

Thank GOD for the love of a sister