Uncle Tommy Poem by Juan Olivarez

He sat on his lazy boy,
An innocent smile playing across his face.
I saw him look at me, as if from a long distance,
With his brown, hazy eyes.
And I thought I detected something, in them.

I walked over to him, and said,
' Ola tio Tommy, ' (hello uncle Tommy.)
'How are you today? '

He looked up at me close up,
Smiled again, and said,
'Quien eres? ' (who are you?)

The tears came then,
And though I did my best to hide them,
Everybody in the room saw and knew.

Tio Tommy, was my dad's congenital twin,
So we had always been, very close.
But since papi passed away,
I had only seen him a few times.
And then that miserable disease had come.
And robbed him of everything he had ever been.

My aunt Josie his sister came in,
And said,
'Tomas, it's Johnny, el hijo de Juan'
But the man whose name meant 'twin'
Didn't hear, or if he had heard,
The distance he had to overcome was too great,
And he just smiled.

Tio Tommy died a few months later,
And though we loved him so much,
And missed him, more than I can say,
We were glad that God, in his infinite wisdom,
Had decided to take him home,
And given him a fresh start in heaven.

6/27/11 Alton Texas