Baby Steps

You called for the first time in years
You told me of your news
I could hear your two-year-old
Talking in the background
Mom told me that she's
Become quite talkative
You asked if I wanted to talk to her
I asked, "What, to the baby?"
You replied, "Sure, hold on"
You put her on the phone
She rambled; I asked how she was
And if she'd been playing
She said she was fine
And then said a few things
That I could not understand
You asked her if she was finished talking
Then you said, "Well, say good-bye"
She did and I did
You came back on the line
And asked if I understood her at all
I could only make out a few words
Then came your reply
"She said I love you, Corene"
It touched my heart and I smiled
But not until the next day
Did I even realize how deep it went
I was driving into work
Thinking about the conversation
When I started to cry
Wondering who really told me
That they loved me
Your child or was it really
You

9.6.00

CMT

Author's Notes

I had always been closer to my younger brother than my older brother. But that all changed when I came out to him, after my ex and I got married. We had been estranged for more than five years. Now that is slowly changing.

Update 2-23-11: Nothing has changed. There have been a few false starts and I was hopeful when I wrote the poem that maybe my younger brother was coming around and we could rebuild our once normal sibling relationship, but our relationship is still as strained as ever. The only times we see each other are for some kind of special occasion, like when our father died or when a cousin came to visit from Canada. Other than that, we don't talk.