My Little Big Brother

I remember when you were small
enough to fit inside the bend of my arm,
Your little hand wrapped around my finger,
They named you Gerald Wayne and called you Jerry.
With your happy smile, and your chatty talk,
You captured my heart right from the start
I tended to your needs, wiping tears, scraped-up knees,
Holding hands, and making sure I was near while you slept.
The little tot who played with dead flies,
On the windowsill, and crawling spiders.
The adventurous kid who caught tadpoles and frogs,
And wore nothing other than cutoff shorts,
No shirt, and sprinted around barefoot,
And learnt how to swim in an irrigation canal.
I watched you grow with open eyes,
From a little tot, to an on-the-go kid, to a teen,
To storms you should have never had to face.
Now you stand grown, with your battles behind you,
And still, when I look at you, I see a little boy
My heart never stopped protecting. I am proud of you
Proud of the man you fought to become.
Proud that the world did not harden
All the goodness out of you.
Brother, you were never just my brother,
You are a piece of my childhood.
A life I loved before I knew what the rest was all about.
And though you no longer need my hand to guide you
I will always remember the boy you were,
And always love the man you are.
No matter how grown you become,
You will always be the little boy I remember
And the man I will always love and be proud of..