surviving twin

last week i attended a family affair

and a few remarked upon my recent growth of facial hair

you look just like your father did

with that beard someone said

i answered back i am him

even though my old man's dead

i didn't want to be him

well at first i did

when i loved and looked up to him

as a little kid

he sent me to his old school

i was a numeral with his name

and he gave me this gold signet ring

and he wore one just the same

and i guess that i believed him

and probably it was true

when he told me i was just like him

that's what some fathers do

but a father's always older

and my dad was rather tall

who says size doesn't matter

he was big and i was small

i needed to be big enough

to be someone someday

and i learned i had to beat him

and that was the only way

i learned i had to fight him

my own flesh blood bone and kin

but i felt i was just like him

can a man's son be his twin?

first we fought for my mother

that afforded little joy

when he left she was heart broken

and i was still their little boy

but i started to get bigger

and to win the ugly game

when i made a little money

and i got a bit of fame

and i saw how this could wound him

yes this could do the trick

and f i made it big enough

i could kill him off quick

but how can you murder someone

in a way that they don't die?

i didn't want to kill him

that would be suicide

i got frightened so i backed off

i let up and i was through

and in the end he did himself in

usually that's what we do

i'm alive and he is dead

and neither of us won

it's spoiled for the victor

once the vanquishing is done

a man becomes immortal

through his daughter or his son

but when he fears his legacy

a man can come undone

and the beard is a reminder

i'm a living part of him

although my father's dead and gone

i'm his surviving twin