Onio's Promise

I was always a curious child

I would play and imagine

what life was like as an adult

it influenced my talk and

my everyday actions growing up.

It was always just me and my brother

My older brother who raised me

He would stand up to my bullies

He would put me in my place

if I ever forgotten it.

He was a giant compared to other men

People would challenge him

and he would meet their challenge

I admire him and held his views to my heart

And when I was old enough to care

for myself. My older brother

would say what he thought Mom

and Dad would say if they were around.

Onio, you are smart and strong-willed

you can do anything you set your mind to.

You're the promise child.

He told me that Mom and Dad had

the sickness, that unknown illness

and did not survive but we did.

I went away to take on my

manly and worldly challenges of life.

Never forgetting what my brother

taught me. Hoping to find

the cure to the unknown illness

that took my parents. As I was

deeply mediating on my teacher's words.

It hit me in doctor's school that protein

is the key to fighting the illness.

That if we increase the protein

then we can build up the immune system.

I came back home after a fiery debate

with my collegues and teachers.

My brother did not greet me

he gave the look on his face

of the illness.

I tried to tell him about the cure

I found but he kept talking

interrupting me and preparing me

for what's to happen and the inevitable.

So I did not tell him and he quietly died.

I went back to researched and researched

at school more fervently and determined.

I developed and developed

And after intense work, it was done.

And I named it after my older brother

hoping he is with the stars

looking down with Dad and Mom.