He’d whisper softly to me at night.
In my dreams he often skulked, and watched.
All I remember were his sullen eyes.
His grizzly smile.

He kept my tiny hand in his, where
I had no choice but to follow.
Over the hill, and through the grove.
“Child, won’t you come with me?”

I’d regularly ask him of his life,
And he’d just gaze and nod his head.
“Nothing good comes from these things.
Child, won’t you stop wondering?”

He ran and jumped and laughed with me,
Or kept me company on rainy days
I’d only become angry when my brother said,
“You’re only playing with nobody.”

Day by day, he’d come and go
Slipping down my walls and through the cracks
Sometimes he’d come from behind the trees
“Child, I’m not frightening.”

Then all at once, he disappeared,
And only became a memory
I wonder still if he misses these things
Though his voice still lingers in my dreams.
“Child, you don’t need me.”