Quantumly Crowned

Older brother,

the day I was born,

the stars aligned along the top

of your head,

ordaining you as king.

*

Surely, we have been siblings before

In parallel universes unknown,

Because from the moment I babbled

and toddled I knew you

Loud and brash in the way the ocean is,

But gentle too

With kind heart wrapped in fierce

Lion’s mane,

You would bleed and ache for me

Without hesitation

Though I would never ask you to.

For you, family is an undeniable goodness

And you protect it the way dragons do,

Unapologetically and

With talon and fire.

*

Older brother,

When I was young and afraid,

Steeped in trauma like bitter tea,

You were the only one to step

Forward with gladiator quickness

to fight the darkness of my fears

And reassure me that I was loved

When I felt unlovable,

Mourning dove cries into the night

Hushed by your soft reassurances.

There is safety in strong hands

And calluses built by life’s troubles and

Worn thumbs erasing away

Tears as if they were never there.

*

With teasing hair ruffles and annoyed eye rolls,

The pride you have in every step I take

No matter how small is sometimes a buoy

That keeps me from drowning under the fierceness

of my dreams crescent moon beckoning

Me unrelentingly.

You are always the loudest voice

Heralding my accomplishments unseen like Hermes,

dimple flashing cheekily

Uncaring of my firefly flickering embarrassment.

Confidence is something I lack

But speaking with you always makes

Me believe that I am worth being proud of.

*

Older brother, I see you always trying your best,

While silent and enduring like pharaoh sarcophagi,

Underneath I see your worries

and your hurts like wounds

and fears of not being good enough

Whispering in your ear like the snake did Eve

But you have always been more than good enough,

An intrinsic fact of your very being

And facts do not change

No matter how much we doubt them

With human uncertainty.

Perhaps, we were placed side by side,

To remind each other that to be vulnerable

is to be loved, and peace can be found

In the gentle swaying of

Confiding murmured words between

family, an architecturally sound

ship keeping us safe as we

traverse the treacherous sea of life.

*

And when time like water

Carves gentle canyons

On your face,

Nature’s wrinkles kissing away youth,

You will still be my big brother

And I your little sister

For family is an infinity sign

Tracing diligent loops we cannot see around us,

Everlasting love ice skating

The track the cosmos

Created the day I was born

And the moment our eyes met

For the first time,

Mathematical particles around us,

This was the moment we were quantumly crowned

As accomplices, as the foundation on which all

universes collide in truth,

The love between an older brother and his little sister

resounding throughout the multiverse,

cosmic audience applauding as we live and grow

But we can’t hear them.