Broken Childhood Poem by Lily Ives

The war ripped us
out of the soil that bore us.
I spent many years longing
to be a child, and to play with you;
letters were all that contained
your longing for me.
New friends, new sights,
and new cultures couldn't fill
the gaping hole torn open under my ribs.
Do you remember clutching my heart
in your little hands as they dragged
me out of our home, and robbed us
of our childhood dreams?
Fourteen long years later
we found our way back to each other.
Your tight blonde curls dangled
under the harsh neon lights at the airport,
tears streamed down our faces
because joy and pain were all the same.
And it was evident that no bloodshed,
no exile, and no lost childhood
could take the one thing we always had -
Love between sisters.