My Sister's Tiny Hands

We came in this world together Legs wrapped around each other My cheek against my sister's We were born like tangled vine We lived along the river Where the black clouds never lingered The sunlight spread like honey Through my sister's tiny hands But while picking sour apples In the wild waving grasses Sister stumbled in the brier And was bitten by a snake Every creature casts a shadow Under the sun's golden fingers And as the sun sinks past the waving grass Some shadows are dragged along So alone, I took to drinking Bottles of cheap whiskey And I staggered through the backwoods Killing snakes with a sharpened stick Oh, but still I heard her laughing In the wild waving grasses Still her tiny hands went splashing At the river's sparkling shore So I took my rusty gas can And an old iron shovel And I set the woods to blaze And choked the river up with stones Every creature casts a shadow Under the sun's golden fingers And as the sun sinks past the waving grass Some shadows are dragged along