When I dropped him off that gray dreary day, I felt sorry for him. The cheap downtown brick apartment was painted a sickening yellow, with red trim that boasted a tiny wrought iron balcony overlooking a creviced weathered street that looked more like an alley than a busy thoroughfare. Instead of a beautiful green courtyard filled with plants and birdsong, a cacophony of traffic noises from the highway ramp greeted us.
As far as I was concerned, he had it all. He had experienced so many things in life. An overflow of the most envious creativity one could ever hope to be born with, made him one of the most interesting persons I ever had the privelege to know. He had experienced artisitc fame as a result; albeit short lived, but even amongst his peers, it was nothing to scoff at. To be in his presence for just an hour, was to learn and view life in a way you never knew existed.
As an adult, I still eagerly sat at his feet, picking his brain with questions, analogies, theories and opinions and whether they were true or not, I accepted them as fact, for he had that intrinsic ability to convince you of anything. He was well read and educated and I snatched his ideas up as if they were priceless pieces of treasure I happened to stumble upon.
Our taste in music was similar and to share a melody or a magnifcent crescendro with him was sheer ecstacy. At the moment a singer's voice rose or the violin cried or the guitar wailed, there was always the guarantee he would be struck emotionally the same way I was.
He gave of himself unlike anyone I know to this day. His generous spirit and willingness to share was like a beacon from a lighthouse whenever my ship was on the verge of being wrecked on the dangerous sharp rocks of life. It wasn't monetary generosity, because as talented as he was, he never truly acquired much in a material way, but it was his enthusiasm for beauty and the emotions evoked from the simple pleasures of life that made being in his presence so memorable. He had that extraordinary power to transform the mundane into the magnificent and I always left him feeling like I inherited a rare jewel that no one else possessed. I never walked away from him without feeling I was unique, appreciated and worthy. In no way, did he ever criticize. Instead, he made you feel good about yourself, because he had that matchless power to make others see their real value, even as he questioned his own.
I felt so sorry for him that day, because he was worth so much more than this world had given him and for reasons only he knew, his life had taken a course that deprived many of his splendid contributions. I try not to think of it in those terms though, because I was part of his life, and thus, a piece of this world, and I certainly have not been deprived. Rather, my life is enriched because of knowing him. There could never be another brother like.....my Dave.
(He lost his battle with HIV January 2009)
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