Mark R Slaughter (1957 / Norwich)

Now man-to-man;
Once child and child
At play
Beneath our mother’s aura;
Brothers bound in innocence –

Mother’s tearful reticence was
Hiding in her smile.
Deeper hung the lead weight
Heavy in her heart

Oxidising:

The man she never mentioned
Slept between the beats.

We slept cuddled in the sheets.

We’d be older when she’d tell us that
Our father died at war –
The day the family ruptured; saw
The tired rings bless Mum’s kind eyes.

Now we’re grown-up brothers
Skirmishing with grown-up life.
And still the aura glows, tho’ distant;
Dimmer.

Mother knows we’re wiser,
Tighter
In our brotherhood of blood.
We sense it; sense her,
Sleeping
Comfy in the wood.


Copyright © Mark R Slaughter 2011










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brother brother brother brother brother come to me
brother brother brother brother brother let me be
brother brother brother brother brother brother see?
brother brother brother brother brother you are he
brother brother brother brother brother brother, me.