Brother and Sister

Sarah Weiner

The dropping sun tints the land gold.

It proclaims its  dominance one last time
before succumbing to the evening cool.
Sugarcane leaves sway gracefully;
A lone duck pompously declares his presence,
Stomping noisily through a muddy rice field.
Let him feel of importance now;
in the harvest season,
his squat legs will be no match for the towering rice stalks.
A small boy leans against a bamboo fence.
Bare footed, he digs his little toes into the dirt.
His nose is dark and delicate, decorated with scabs:
thick and and cracked like tree bark.
A little girl runs up to him, her hair whipping around her face.
Her eyes are big and worried;
she shouts something in a language I do not understand.
The boy smiles lovingly at his sister,
and kisses the top of her head:
a promise of protection.
She relaxes.
He takes her hand,
and together they walk down the dusty road,
their shadows long.