Birthday Wishes

Today is my little brother's birthday.
Which is to say, 'little. in the sense of 
time and space. He was Billy when I
changed his diapers. Much later he 
became Bill but never William. To me
Billy he will always remain, the sweet
pudgy infant whose tentative first steps
I was witness to, whose cap of curly
hair made him look downright angelic.
Adulthood took him a fair distance but
we would on occasion have reason to
close that geographic gap and each time
his presence as a mature man dissolved
back into that much earlier version we
were both quite comfortable with. The
wide gap of years between us along with
the geographic distance failed to estrange
us but a more recent distance has created
a vacuum resistant to temporary warmth
in each other's company. I could dispatch
a birthday wish into that void but should
I wish to proffer a gift it would fail any
impression much less restore him to life.