Somewhere in the dark of night

Underneath the stars

Somewhere between an empty desert

And sidewalks with streetlamps illuminating the sky

Somewhere I could ride a bike at midnight, through the crickets chirping

And the cars driving by every half hour or so.

I was somewhere between two brothers.

Pedaling in a straight line, up and down concrete sidewalks

One boy shining his flashlight behind me

One pointing his ahead

So that I could always see where I was going

And where I had been.

Crashes were inevitable, teetering on just two narrow tires

The brothers would laugh

But always stopped to lift me up

A safety net under the tightrope I walked

Making failure less painful

Somewhere in the night, I learned that who I was

Would never fill the space of who I wanted to be.

But the space of who I was would still be worth celebrating.

Somewhere, in the protection of my brothers

I learned that there was always

Somewhere

That I would be loved.