Keeping a Promise

I watch him laugh, eyes sparkling bright,

     my little brother, joy draped in gold,

     the night we swore, ‘we’ll never lose sight,’

     those pinky fingers tight, a bond to hold.

Time slips away like grains in a glass,

     buried under worries, adulting demands,

     yet in this moment, I clutch the past,

     a heart's reminder, no distance can strand.

Always, we said, we’d have each other's backs,

     when storms rumble close, and shadows fall deep,

     through whispers of doubt, through life’s little cracks,

     I promise you still, these words I will keep.