If I Call You Sister Poem by Angela Bontle Ditumiso

I call you molten gold after a happy sun
I close my eyes imagine you beaming in the sky
You send me healthy sunflowers
I imagine every one of them as me
I can't help but look up to you
Turn my head at your every move
On the day you don't turn up, sun
I look for you everywhere
Even within the creases of my skin

Maybe the world lies on the palms of the creator
For us to get back together as one
Maybe we're far apart to pull the seams of earth
Until we stand on the same ground
In this Africa I've come across a lot of people
In dreams, in passing even in the mirror
Called them strangers but you
The first time I saw you I felt like I had been
Reunited with a part of me
Blood, long lost innocence, peace
I'm not really sure what it is but you belong

I always wake up searching for your shadow
Or your footprints on social media
Anything to feel closer to you
It feels crazy, so crazy to care this much
About someone I've only met virtual
And yet it feels so surreal, it's like
You're me just four years older
So if I called you sister would you be okay?