He stands tall, but not the tallest any more
Hazel eyes define every other feature on his face
His hair is like mine
A mess of untamable curls like our father had in college
Calloused fingertips reveal every late night spent
Playing his guitar
Learning and writing songs alike
His voice is a spectrum of booming frustration to gentle advice
Afternoons after school
and late nights after breakups were spent belting at the top of our lungs
all of the songs we only sang in front of each other
When he was in high school
He was a safe I could keep all my secrets with
The ones I wouldn’t dare tell mom and dad
and now
I can only make deposits on holidays and seldom weekends
Over anything else
I love how he trusts me with his secrets
Making just as many deposits as I do if not more
Though he is only a call away
It’s not the same as having him down the hall
It’s not the same
It’s never going to be the same