SEE YOU IN LESS THAN A WEEK

I send to every friend that texts me,
drowning out the invading loneliness
with volume
because I have this awkward week -
poor and an "only child" -
where my sister and high school friends
have returned to college
but my classes are a week later.

and my best friend,
my sister in everything but birth,
she aches and I cannot heal,
she grieves but I can only say,
"I know; I'm sorry; I love you."

it's not enough,
not for me anyway,
so I'll throw things halfheartedly at my powerlessness,
as I pace alone,
grieving for a grandmother not mine,
who's gone home,
but left someone who needed her.