As I tread through the thick and icy thawed snow
step in your footsteps, serenade your shadow
I face your faceless back, always turned away

The stars shine silver and the slush reflects gray
above impatient crunching, and hunching noise
I might hear your echo, but not your human voice

You will only ever walk straight on ahead
where your ending waits, is a secret unsaid
so never turn you around, to look at me

Because you have confidence and guarantee
given you are taller, richer and wiser
I follow your lead, my distanced advisor

Today we walk on a sidewalk with others
I don’t dare fantasize, mothers and brothers
never to the strangers, shall I ever speak

We know those walking behind us are too weak
we wouldn’t lose our pride, in turning around
to face those after us, only seen by sound

Eventually we reach the old city hall
speaking to me, it’s like talking to a wall
I am scared and happy, as we climb these stairs

Now’s the chance I can glimpse a few of your hairs
subtle pants of tiredness, I want to ask
why we feel so close, perchance pairing a past

Along this journey I have helped you kill time
a courtier of entertainment, guiltless crime
can I ever do anything, gratitude

Am I wrong to have this insecure attitude
that one day, you will see I am useless
sell me as your daughter, in a cheap laced dress

After tending to your business in this place
my instincts sense failure, from your sombre face
I cannot see, only imagine in my mind


Your dignity remaining always refined
I write my own lessons, ones I discover
in the adventure of life, I uncover

Exit us the building to enter the crowd
but suddenly you are gone, I cough aloud
nobody feels this choking, except myself

I stare up at none but the marble itself
towering over people, humming power
in this endless cycle, at this dead hour

Lost in nostalgia to follow you again
my prayer to revive you, I say amen
a plea always answered, and always in rhyme

The rhyming riddle represents ten years’ time
what has happened along, I somewhat recall
under faint dust, I remember overall

There’s someone trailing me along the same trail
same one you took me on, on an altered scale
they say it seems larger, when you’re halfway there

To answer my childhood questions I do not care
to where we will go, I will never tell you
it is hidden within, in the winter blue

One day when you are guiding the deaf and blind
dressed warm in jackets and boots, in winter grind
promise them their safety, and tell them nothing

They will discover for themselves everything
and that is the way, along this dusty road
our fraternity pledge, an unspoken code.