like a brother

from way back when,lost in the haze of time,
but firmly etched in the bosom
of my fondest memories:

there you stand,
tall and strong, my role model;
my early hero, master of such triumphs
as chess, mastering ancient Hebrew and - later on,
super-cool teenager with
trendy clothes and stylish sideburns..

many adventures did we share
hitching ‘cross sunburst France
in the mid sixties, endless supply of amazing
anecdotes, funny, scary and joyous..

perhaps a seminal moment: sleeping
under the luminescent sky and shooting stars
in the corn-fields of Cambrai,
the youthful passion of freedom, wonder
and excitement eternally burned into the most
treasured archive of my personal history..
sharing an impossibly tiny Fiat
with an enormously smelly Italian,sharing a smooth, iconic American automobile
with a pretentious Swiss pop star
a coffee machine by his gear stick and
a personal frennd of ze rolling stones..

sharing the autobahn with a paranoid German
who ditched us in the mittel of no-vair as “ve ver going to kill him!”

and of course being kidnapped in Schweitzer by a coupla gay Italian Mafioso
and taken not to our chosen destination, France, but the
highways and byways of north Italia..
[hugging floor in Nice airport in sleeping bags..]

they go on and on, these wonderful carefree times,
sauntering merrily along with love and affection for
one another, which none could break apart..

later we lose touch, but not mutual warmth and affection..and now, God knows in the twilight years
scarce possible to imagine WE would GROW OLD!
dearest cuz, I love you dearly and youwill always be in the front row of my life-dreams..
enjoy your day -
celebrate with pride sixty hard won years
and raise a glass to
our loving well-spent youth together..

Re: like a brother

good times! :) hoping your cousin has the best of birthdays, my friend!