My brother frequently picked on me

            Last week he even ditched me with his friends,

            All older by several years, 

            And I waited an hour at the park

            For nothing

            I wanted the chance to get even with him,

            Maybe even to tell my parents

            That he was seeing some girl

            All those afternoons he said 

            He was doing extra credit at school –

            If I really got mad, that is

            But I never did

            Because he, my brother,

            Played cards with me and laughed a lot 

            And taught me football and made sure 

            Nobody ever pushed me around

            Except him

            Yesterday morning he shared his porridge

            With me even though he was hungrier, and bigger

            Naturally I wanted to kill him

            A hundred times a day for teasing

            But not the way the smart bomb did

            They told me it was a smart bomb

            That made a mistake

            I wonder whoever made it so smart,

            Somebody a million miles away,

            Did he have a brother

            Who put a hand on his shoulder to squeeze it

            As they walked home from school

            For no reason at all

            My parents couldn’t answer that question,

            My parents, I can hardly recognise them 

            We’ve been ditched but there’s not even 

            Waiting