There Was A Boy

There’s a boy here with your sweetness and humor
Another with your strength, warmth, a twinkle in his eye
While the echo of your footsteps get softer still
Overshadowed by the here and now
It’s quiet where you once stepped
And the boys run wild, smiling, curls flying.

Here’s your birthday twin who’s almost 12
Her lifetime flew without you, your hugs
Yet another has your funky spirit and sneaky ways
And a little one whose smile upturns ours
Contagious just like yours and charming too
And the boys both bear your name.

Your friends are husbands, fathers, wives, mothers
They don’t call or write much anymore
Their new lives soften the past
They remember you, they say
Some come forward to hug us, but sometimes not
Propelled and driven towards their own future
With children or dates or marriage or divorce
We miss them, we miss you with them
We miss what once was.

The past can tug on us like heavy stones
While others cannot bear it any more
Yet your bygone days are all we have…
We wish, ache to speak in present tense
Without repeating the same stale stories, again
We see the averted eyes, the shifting in chairs
But we have nothing else of you, our boy.

There’s a boy who could have worn a different name
And another whose middle name matches yours
You ought be alive to see such incredible souls, pieces of you
Should be their fun, zany, spirited, whip-smart, sensitive, tenacious uncle
Who understood the cruel agony of unforgiving illness
Yet chose to focus on beauty, of life and family
With always a smile on your face and heart.

There once was a boy, an almost-adult man
Now others step along, take up where you left us
Wearing the character of original classic Gilad
Your books and music and toys, your style and essence
Our family grown but forever holding your hand
There was a boy and now there are more.