You were my best friend
For my first eight years
Swapping jokes and giggling
Running together to the park
Playing pranks on Amma
(Really troubled her, didn’t we?)
Telling stories in the dark after
Appa switched off the light
(Ghost stories were the best)
You were my best friend
And you were my brother
Older by a whole year as
You never failed to remind me
I thought you always would be
In my life and we’d grow up
Together. Even when hospital
Kept you away sometimes
I thought you’d come home
With new tricks to teach me
I didn’t know you’d go away
Forever. Teaching me only
That the lessons of grief
Are sometimes learnt early.
Very touching. Must be tough to share this.
ReplyDeleteThank you Rashmi. It's actually not so tough to share this - although my brother's life (and my time together with him) was brief, it was essentially a really joyful time for me. Although I miss him, intensely sometimes, I always carry the joy of those times with me.
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