Welcome all! This December there’s a lot going on for everyone, and given how everything has been for just about the entire year, it can be easy to forget some of the smaller things. Here’s a poem celebrating a good friend of mine.
| Toby |
| I’ve a brother by no blood Ages have passed since we’ve spoken And each reunion is one of joyous calm Borne of the same year to different mothers I’ve no memory of our first meeting Just old photographs of smaller folk That, under a less understood sky Once claimed our same names You’d think there a wolf in him Always hungry while I would barely eat The vibrant voice my timid self wasn’t He could move for hours but I’d be a statue I saw him go with others and race the wind But next to me he was the stillness of a lake What did he, so opposite, see worthy in kinship? And how did he see it before I did? No doubt he made better company Even in playful aggression that came from A type of love I was stranger to When cities divided us it took years to remember The value of that novelty We visited his family for the first time in long Bringing gifts of food and fleeting togetherness As words filled the air and noise every corner I did the same thing I’ve always done I wandered off away from commencement There he was, now quiet among the noise Time had served to calm him in how it always had me His hair was too long, same as mine Our eyes were both tired from the weight of many things Though I wore new mask and coiffure He knew me in seconds Gentle excitement sprang through his feet He wound wistfully around my legs Nuzzling into the hand I lowered To scratch him behind the ear When our families bade goodbye I offered some parting pets Then gave salutations to relatives of every brood I took a final glance at my old friend prancing in the backyard I pondered the months and years How they would treat him Well, I hope Our car hummed across the highway I sat in the right passenger seat as I always had And picked white fur off of my sleeve I’ve a brother by no blood Ages will pass till we speak again And the reunion will be one of joyous calm |
