Sibling Jealousy

By Subhadeep Santra

I was the apple of their eye

They laugh with me, with me they cry

They pamper me with song, dance and puzzle

They amuse me with distorted muzzle

But time does not remain ever belligerent

Mom’s swollen belly was harbinger of an evil descent

Then one day my life took a sudden detour

When holding a tiny disaster mom entered through the door

All flocked around her abandoning me with half broken toys

They ignore my groan and run at the click of her voice

I hated that ever crying, attention seeking sinister

Alas! The world called her my sister

We grew up, and the anger too grew with me

Oh! How I wished to throw her down the sea

When I was 18 cancer devoured dad

His last words for me drove me mad

“Take care of your sister” is what he had to say

Bestowing on me her guardianship before he passed away

Keeping up with his words I control my anguish

How I wish I could scrub off that evil blemish

When she entered college all my freedom was marred

Mom insisted that I become her bodyguard

I had to keep her safe from the tainted brained college boys

I bashed up everyone, even the one she claimed to be her choice

Then one day my professor taught me to be straightforward

He said, “Learn to face situations that are untoward”

That day I confronted her “There is something I must say”

“Or else I shall suffer from internal decay”

“Today I shall rip off the image of a good boy

I had suppressed my feelings until now as I was coy

There are emotions that I did not yet vent

If I do not do so today, I shall ever repent

This is something that you did not knew

Be informed little sister that I hate you

As days passed I hated you more and more

I hated you since I was four”

She gazed at me with awful intent

She raised her eyebrows but did not comment

Then into a peel of laughter she broke

As if I had just narrated a joke

She then ran to me and hugged me tight

I felt trapped in an emotional plight.

Since then I had confronted her again and again

But all my efforts had gone down the drain

She would smile when I said I hated her

She was reluctant to the belief I tried to spur

Her disbelief was so strong that I was deeply awestruck

Every time I try to convince her I turn a lame duck

Then one day mom left us alone to mourn

She upheld herself but I was completely torn

Unable to accept her demise the sorrow boiled within

My body burned like furnace and I saw the world spin

With half eye I saw the little devil sitting on my bed

administering washcloth on my burning forehead

The next few days she slept on the chair kept adjacent

She would not leave me alone until I was convalescent

She cooked half burned food and served me the unscorched bit

She burned her fingers twice in doing what she never did

A couple of days later she handed me a greeting card

It felt being hit in the heart with a poisonous dart

A half grown lad was holding the hand of a tiny little girl

The boy had a horn on the head but the girl had a nice curl

It also had the words “I hate you dear snobbish brat”

I looked at her and said “But I love you dear hellcat”

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By Subhadeep Santra