affection

There's oddity in discovering a self-effacing younger

brother can take a place on another ladder,

gradually mounting rungs, and counting each

as a breach-maker's act of gaining ground.

Astounded as I am that anyone formerly subservient

has nerve to offer serious rivalry, in the field

of appeal as a ladies' man, I watch disgruntled

such effrontery - biding my time for riposte.

To be jostled aside in the stakes for family control

might yet unfold as my cold repugnant destiny -

unless I summon the remnant of my former supremacy

to come up front, and nip subversion in the bud.

In life, I'll find positions of attack,

without this constant need to shield my back.