Walking With My Brother

When we were young and unafraid,
We wasted our time
Outdoors at play.

Wasted our time learning
And making mistakes,
Red rover, red rover
Such little snowflakes.

Too weak to break through,
Too small to fight,
Too young to realize,
The strength of our might.

Together in song,
Dishes washed and dried,
Whether melody or harmony,
You always won when we vied.

Alli allí in-free,
It’s time for bed.
Little did they know
We sat up and read.

Wastin’ our time,
Hiding our lights,
Under the bed sheets,
We read well into night.

As we grew older,
We each had our friends.
Yet your place was secure,
As first among them.

We learned new ways
To waste our time.
Long talks by phone
As we sought to abide
Long distances away
From one another,
Our ties eventually loosed
By mother and brother.

As our days grow shorter,
We’ve fallen out of rhyme.
Fewer the ways safe
For us to waste our time.

Wound upon wound,
Scar upon scar,
We’ve increasingly lost sight
Of how to love when we spar.

How to converse without pride
How to remember without shame
How to sing past the wounds
How to spend time together again.

Now, the chasm between us
Has grown wide and deep.
It seems too far to fall
Too long to leap.

Our voices grow weary,
Our vision lost in the mist,
Songs together unsung,
Their echoes long spent.

Time was when the little toy dog was new,
And the soldier was passing fair…
That was the time
When we had time to waste.
No more, I fear, no more.