IT'S A LONG LONG ROAD

You the proud
horseman of my shoulders.

My curls
your reins.

The sky dripping with
pure happiness.

The horizon a sheer line
of nothing

but joy.

I gallop off
into the infinity

of this one
and only moment.

The centaur of
my little brother's world.



Now you
are in your pudgy phase

and I can only carry
you on my back.

I tell you
you are my koala bear.

You like the sound
of that.

"I'm a Coca Cola bear!"
you chant.

"Yeah..." I huff.
"...right!" I puff.

You are too heavy.

You ask me if you
are "...too heavy?"

"Not a bit!"
I lie.

Field after field I
carry you through that summer.

"Huffpuffhuffpuffhuffpuff!"
I turn my breath into song.
"Huffpuffhuffpuffhuffpuff!"

"You ain't heavy...
...your'e my brother!"



Now I    carry you
within me

as the living must
carry their dead.

Your memory
light as a feather

resting upon the soul.

Your death too hard
for me to bear.

I carry you through
fields of summer

you will never see.

"Am I
too heavy for you?"

Your voice
echoes inside my mind.

"No...!" I lie.

You smile.

Knowing now...I lie.

"You ain't heavy...."
I feel his little hands

tugging on the reins
of my curls.

". . .you are
my Brian!"