No More Poem by Barry Middleton

no more is he there
to correct my memories
to tell me where the commas go
or try to educate me further
on objective and subjective pronouns

all these were valuable
but these were the trivial things
more important was a paternal spirit
paternal yet understated
nurturing is a better word

with father and mother
there were six of us
and now that six is three
a huge hole opened in the universe
and my brother vanished