Posted by Helen Comber
on 11/13/2001, 6:00 pm
For Rob
Family reunion, 1990.
All the other cousins were cruel
To the diry blond haired five year old
With a too-big-imagination and hand-me-down clothes.
You were my savior.
Because you saw worth in me,
You gave me hope.
I still have our picture.
You held me up
As i "surfed" on a kickboard
In grandaddy's pool.
But cousins grow up,
Move away,
Grow distant.
I saw you last Thanksgiving.
I remember
How we drank sparkling cider,
How we sang songs of praise,
How you couldn't stay for charades.
Now i know what i should have done
Before you walked out the door.
I should have clung to your coat like a child
And said
"I love you Cousin Rob, thanks you, I love you"
But i didn't.
How could i have imagined
That i would never see you again?
After you died,
Aunt Sue showed me a picture i drew
Of your dog, Otis:
It had been hanging on the refrigerator
After all these years.
It gives me peace that i decorated your refrigerator,
That maybe you thought of me
When you opened the door to get out the milk.
How else could i thank you?
I was a child,
I am a child.
When someone dies young,
They become a hero.
I wish i had told you:
You were already a hero.
You didn't have to die,
For me to be so thankful for you.
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