You are my trampoline

When I fall you push me back up

You are the flower that is permanently rooted in my life

You are the jar that contains every drop of my sorrow

The mind that knows all my thoughts

We brawl with no restraint. You kick, I punch, but our anger never makes it past the night

We dance together like the feathers of dandelions before they hit the ground

We laugh so hard, all we can hear is silence.

You need not worry that I will ever chafe under your discipline, for I know it is only meant to stabilize me

This joy is all I’ve ever known, your presence is so constant I tend to ignore it

What will become of me when this youth ends?

When you leave to create your future, what will become of this dandelion?

Will I wither and blow away?

Do I let the wind take me in hopes that it might carry me back to you?

How do I know that I will make it? What if my wind isn’t strong enough?

We sprouted from the same seed, they cannot separate us.

We grew from the same sunshine, the same tears of nature, the same soil that roots us.

We both reached for the sky in hopes that the heavens would pluck us.

If this flower should wither and waver, let us do it together – side by side.

If the wind should come and uproot you from this soil, take me with you.

So that I may always have my trampoline that catches me,

that I may have my jar that holds me together – along with all the pieces that I’ve given up,

that I may have the mind that feels my thoughts as though they are her own.

Together we will be dancing dandelions in the wind.

—

By Hope Geevarghese

This poem was written for my sister as she prepares to leave for school. We’ve always been incredibly close – so much so that people often say we’re reflections of each other. In a way, it feels like half of me is leaving.