Now I Turn Twenty

(For my brother, Sam 1965-1984)

The time is here
when I, finally
become older than you.

All those years
of being the youngest,
gone.
You are now the young one:
frozen in time,
forever.
I will go on living,
growing, getting older.
But you will stay nineteen,
in your little plot
of land.

In time, I will join you,
but not now,
not yet.
It is not my turn
to die

black & white of Sam

(Now I Turn Twenty ©1986 Fina James)