Places we knew together lie in wait, still as I’ve ever seen
for our return.

And we will return, but
it will never be as it was.

I’ll never again hear my brothers’ shrieks as they climb
and break the weak lower branches from our tree.

We will have dinner at our table, but you won’t have grass-stained knees
and we won’t study on your bed afterward until a new day comes.

And still you wear a white uniform, but not the stained jersey we knew.
Now it is pristine and reminds me that you’ll never again be mine as you were.

Though you wear the cover of an officer and make me proud every day,
I will always miss the boy that this man used to be.

Even now as I too seize everything I want, I fear I am the only one
who would give it all right back to return to what we were.

Untainted,
Unworried,
Careless,
Naïve.

But mostly,
Together.