hey hey banana banana

My friend Leo & me

We run and laugh when we see each other from afar

We don’t speak one single word

I just bite his soft chubby neck and he opens his mouth

wide

full of tiny white baby teeth

and giggles

Leo & me

We salute each other with growls and chuckles

And spin out until we get sick

(I do feel way more sick and for a longer time)

and then try to hold one another like old friends

after a wedding

My friend Leo & me

We try to communicate the best we can with the world

failing considerably most of the times

(he is way more successful than me also in this matter)

and improvise songs like

hey hey banana banana

when the not so cold, dark, dark night

falls over this arid and somewhat  gloomy disappearing town

in which we both live

We walked hand in hand in silence

Around the market square

Checking out (with huge eyes) the photos on the stands

The beer cans from all over the world

The Chinese red lanterns hanging from the ceiling

I try to help him whenever I can

And sometimes he jumps on my arms

And rests his glowing head in my shoulder

Making me feel like a long lost crestfallen Peter Pan

Hiding in a bunker

with the last member of the Lost Boys Gang

Leo calls me out when I am already walking home

And comes to me driving his wooden pedal less bike

While I stand and wait for him at the gates

When he arrives

he just extends his arm,

I bend,

and he hugs me goodbye

Then he leaves again back to his mother

His little feet not even touching the ground

His blonde head shining under the street lamps in the park

Leaving me breathless

Standing like a drunken fool

Trying to get a hold of what has just happened

And swallowing a deep tide of tears

That make me feel

Out of place and time

Even though I am (almost) 40 years older than him

Fragile like a drained tree leaf

In the winter night

Dissolved in the funnel of the street and the infinite subway

But with the odd sensation that I could die

with

a smile

on my face