Reunion

In my memories he is a boy, a wonder without pretense, without fear or doubt. He foolishly laughed, painless jubilation infecting every muscle. And how he spoke – the drawling, rhythmic swagger between drooling letters. Without a care for the world he swept the room with lazy eye, leg forever perched and frantically twitching. Without the strut and apathy, the intensity and rebellion, the feigned savageness and feverish nonchalance, he is barely recognizable in rare reflection. I wonder if he misses him, his abandoned alter ego, because the chasm between them deepens with each stifled heartbeat.