[image: myextralife.com]

To My Brother: On Your 89th Birthday

Another year has come and gone
Another sunset another dawn
A time to sow a time to reap
A thought to give and one to keep.

I can only imagine how you feel today
How time has taken some things away
Your muscles flex but not as well
How many stories have you left to tell?

That wheelchair reminds me of things to come
Those damn things are just too glum
I’d wheel it out in the cool night air
And still get bit by mosquitoes there.

I’d listen to the wind blowing thru the trees
I’d hold somebody’s hand and feel her knees
I’d tickle her toes if I could reach that far
I’d sing her a song and play my guitar.

But I’m much younger and you don’t need me
To give advice or to referee
So sit back, relax, pop a brew if you can
And drink a toast to those that you out ran.

You’ve crossed all your T’s and dotted your I’s
You’ve cut all the naysayers down to their size
Take a plane flight up there in the stratosphere
Where the clouds don’t linger and the air is clear.

The hospital called earlier today
That pregnant girl has twins on the way
Their tests cleared me but there’s some hullabaloo
It seems they still want to talk to you.

Send me a post card when you arrive in Tahiti
Make it anonymous that’ll be fine with me
I’d hide out there for a year or two
It’ll take that long for the judicial review.