Ashley Creek flowed as all creeks flow, flowing with ease with grace to match a rising sun, a singing bird, so much beauty to match even the flow of the wind carrying mankind’s hopes and ambitions.

Fall was the time of school, of harvest; moments where Summer released the hectic hold of energy driven humming birds, ravenous weeds, children’s laughter as they splashed in warm waters of those long, hot days.

Yellow glows the green replaced, soon the leaves would fly. Snow berries beckoned with something for the boys to play.

Those boys, those brothers… Two of opposing beliefs yet how those two played.  Growing through the seasons; flowing; drifting in opposite directions. One to a life of people and school, the other to solitude of privacy and learning. A path, a divide; life of youth flowing in a world cruel and extreme.

Excitement in his eyes as he learned of others like him. Those who were filled with so much ambition, life, sexual orientation, and dreams. The other, the vast eternal enforcement of what has always  been.

Two boys on their way to being two men. A path flowing. Winter. Spring. Summer. Fall. Through it all, Ashley creek flowed. Full of fish, of bubbling stones, and alongside, the path never strayed.

Time. Of what manner can such a word hold? The past, the present, the future, when really, all the same.

Walking that path now, along a creek with pole in hand. Alone and smiling. Learning what really was never forgotten. Knowing the fish would bite the hook. Knowing the snow berry would be fun to throw. Knowing Duke the mutt, the mongrel would be there to beg, knowing so much and really, what did he know?

Life has a way of happening. It has a way of flowing, only not only forward or back. Life is wonderful when knowing, and know that even now, two brothers, two not of the same spirit or blood, could still follow the path  while accepting being apart.

There! The tip of the rod bends to the will of the shiny trout. And there, another, and another… In the air, the smell of frost. It is indeed, good.

All around the winds of time comfort me in memory, heart, and soul. To forever walk the path along the ever flowing creek, knowing love in my heart. And maybe one day, others too can feel the soil of the path on the bottom of their soles, and join in the dream. Always, the dream, a dream with no beginning or end, only knowing it truly is all real.

(this is dedicated to Karl, an orney red haired bastard that is/was and always will be my brother)