Neal Simons; My Friend, My Brother Poem by Troy Clark

We were alone;
Without a complete grasp of humanity.

We walked a path so narrow-
That most would have fallen
In an abyss so dark-
And decrepit; there’d be no light.

But we walked it
We walked to the end of the blade
Laughed as it cut into our marble-
Flesh, we raised our hands into the air
And shouted to the world
“This is who I am”!

We molded this knife,
This life, this reality into-
Our own.
As we deemed worthy!

And yet still-
We were alone;
Without a complete grasp of humanity.

Days turned into weeks,
Weeks into months,
Months into years;
Our friendship grew into
An unbreakable bond.

Not once did we ever argue; not once
We saw eye to eye-
Even though your eyes were always
Four inches above mine.

You didn’t judge me
You understood just what I was
Who I was.
And the same was for you.
To you.

Neal-My friend, My Brother
We were alone;
But now there’s a glimpse
A light to follow,
To lead us somewhere-
Be it no where at all;
But a road that leads no where-
Is still a road.


We were alone;
Without a complete grasp of humanity.

We walked a path so narrow-
That most would have fallen
In an abyss so dark-
And decrepit; there’d be no light.

But we walked it
We walked to the end of the blade
Laughed as it cut into our marble-
Flesh, we raised our hands into the air
And shouted to the world
“This is who I am”!

We bit, we scratched at the surface-
Of the cold,
We plunged our voice into the minds
And souls, and hearts of man!

We snapped the tip of that blade off!

The shrapnel flew in all directions,
Carried off by the harsh and blistering-
Winds,
We tugged, we pulled, we dragged
That tip back along the blade to the hilt
And then-

We sat.

We were no longer-
Alone.

**Neal; My Friend, My Brother. This is what I will read to the world on your death bed.