Celebrating Sybil
for my friend, jellybeans (revised March 2002)

I can’t recall when you entered my life... didn’t know what you’d come to mean
For days or weeks or maybe months, you were another name on the screen.
I’m slow to open up sometimes and didn’t immediately segue
To appreciating your goodness.You were completely out of my league!
I was an overweight shadow, you were a sexy woman with wiles
But it wasn’t that tough for even me to see you needed to share in smiles.
Your poems showed great talent but ached with heartbreak and loss -
It was obvious somewhere down the line you’d paid a very high cost.
You longed to fly love’s wings to freedom but were caught in a keyless cage;
I cringed at the unfairness when your keeper erupted in rage.
What you shared most of your off-screen life was your pride and dearest joy
I came to love your "little one" and delight in that precious boy.
It seemed we lived our lives parallel... together we sought a little hope
And we learned to lean on each other as we struggled just to cope.
We watched dreams shatter and turn to dust, disintegrate before our eyes
But we weren’t alone in the darkness - a friend shared our tears, heard our cries.
Our heroes may have departed, but they linger held in our hearts
We falter down life’s pathway, facing many more stops than starts.
Your talent for writing has blossomed, you superbly write anger and pain
And we both pray that we’ll each live to know happiness once again.
To love someone is to share their pain, but you are worth every ache -
You’re my sister of the heart; I’d walk through fire for your sake.