Watching him change.

He had grown-up hands and
little boy eyes and a way of
saying things that made even
the heartbroken want to love
again; I don't think he could
lie to save his life, but he told
me about things that couldn't
possibly be true, like worlds
full of happiness and love at
first sight; He knew nothing
about real things like math
or how people worked, but he
was the only person who would
just lay in the grass with me
and not worry about the world
spinning away without us.

And sometimes, as he's falling
asleep, I can see the echoes of that
boy I loved; but when he opens
his eyes and opens his mouth,
he's who he's decided to be, just
another lost boy becoming a man.

He was my best friend and my
worst enemy and I wouldn't
give him up for the world, but
he's faded now and I don't
think he'll ever really glow the
same. No matter how much we
wish or how much we pray, he's
back in his land of pretty things
with no feeling, and words
that don't mean anything more
than what the dictionary says
they do; the boy has a right to
be happy, after all, even if his
happiness is somewhere I don't
believe exists.