Annie Poem by Robert Rorabeck

I spend all night living in exile
And dreaming of my beautiful sister in laws
Exhumed by the flames:
There they are, continuing up from their
High schools,
And looking as if they could be in charge
In their little bedrooms
Without any shelter-
Wont they ever set out again, lingering
Against the vanishing
Jasmine just like the spells of their folklore,
Or the songs that I sing:
There are the waves hurrying against the moon
Light: and just like them, she too will
Grow up and get her part in this world,
But I wonder if she will ever know
Who she really is,
As the dragons sing and loose their teeth underneath
The pillows, and smile innocent
As she holds her auburn head up next to the sun.