Two Years Older

Two years older

Makes you wiser and bolder

and smarter than I’ll ever be.

No matter how hard I try

To pass you by

You’ll always be further than me.

In school, I worked so hard to excel

Trying—so hard to sell

The idea that I was just as good as you

I have scars on my knees, just a few,

From falling, time after time

Trying, to catch up to you I’m

Still here, still calling

“Wait for me!” I’m still falling.

Two years older

Makes you more patient, kind

and further along in the mind.

More studied than I

Trying to follow along my

Brain develops thinker’s block

Maybe we should stop trying to talk

at 2 a.m., early in the morning.

I guess I should have given you a warning

Sometimes I get frustrated

When we’ve debated

At your beautiful, poised, sophisticated

Response to which I have no reply

So I ask you—why?

Why do you talk to me

When you have other places to be

And to this you always say,

“Because I care.”

and he does, every day.

Two years older

Makes you barely older than me

But what makes it a big difference

Are the things you can’t see.

The things in the distance

That you already preach

The things that are still,

just out of reach.