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 & 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 & 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'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