I had one brother, he hated me
He was older and I'd stole that breast
That he always thought was his alone
Took some time before parents could see
Long after those first years were over
I had to watch for him hatching plans
As a pinch or punch would often come
When parents eyes didn't look our way
We both grew up and sent out to play
He'd punch and shove me in the nettles
Once in a little pond to laugh that day
So I'd run home but did not betray
So in the end I found my own friend
When first I started in junior school
We would play and explore on our own
T'was good not having not wear a frown
Better too when I played with some girls
Some with straight black hair and some with curls
I even held their hands walking home
During the war when the sirens droned
We moved house one year to a new town
Brother now went to senior school
And I fell in love with every girl
With fair hair and not even one curl
I walked this girl May home after school
She was the first to let me kiss her lips
And then there was Eileen and Joan too
In the end I chose Maureen to woo
It’s a shame not to be close to our siblings..I’m glad you found your own path
ReplyDeleteI'm not quite getting how this fits the prompt – but it's a delightful tale, as always, Robin.
ReplyDelete"T'was good not having not wear a frown"
ReplyDeleteA friend to make one smile, such a blessing
Muchđź–¤love
Sad that sibling rivalry gets in the way of love. Is that the lesson learned here?
ReplyDeleteI laughed out loud at line #1 ... priceless.
ReplyDeleteI guess he was an only child for too long to easily give it up. Too bad. My brothers are only five years apart, but never close. They grew up in different times in the world, the older one in peacetime joined the army,the other one came of age during the Vietnam war. A huge divide between them to this day. I'm so much younger I was like an only child myself. One still resents it.
ReplyDeleteI too gave up for my younger, a sister. We lived in a four room house, two bedrooms. When sis was old enough to leave our parent's room she got the one i was in and I slept out on the front porch. Grandpa and Dad screened it in and added sliding storm windows. There was no heat and if course we did not have air conditioning so in our cold winters the mornings showed frost on my blanket.
ReplyDelete..
I know a bit about sibling rivalry, Robin, being one of three sisters, only I was the oldest who got the blame for everything and was always compared to the other two – and sometimes set up by them. I was also the first to leave home. I like the stanza about playing with girls – there were no girls of my age on our estate, so I played with the boys! You were a bit of a charmer with all those girls!
ReplyDeleteYour poems are so nostalgic! They're like a window to another time (I mean that in a wonderful way).
ReplyDeleteI have cousins (make and female) who detested each other, a heartache for my wonderful aunt who is now gone. I doubt they will ever see each other again.
ReplyDelete