Brother Mine

It’s the small hours here at work where I sit
Those quiet hours between the dark and the dawn
In my troubled mind, the pieces don’t quite fit
The fabric of my life seems to always have been torn

*****

Minutes ago I was in the car with my brother
Driving with the sounds up to our apartment in the Point
Our voices flowing over me like fresh spring water
We harmonize so naturally like a ball within a joint

*****

Yet again it made me wonder things I’ve wondered well before
Why my brothers have quite seamlessly become my dearest friends
Somehow they have always known me and I guess that’s what its for
I need that look of understanding, and the message that it sends

*****

But its more than that and strangely I can’t say exactly why
I understand our bond is special and unique in its own way
I’m certain that the troubles of our youth helped us to bond
But it strikes me that its grown, bigger, stronger, here to stay

*****

Still my mind is wandering loosely and more quickly here’s the point:

*****

I have watched my brother suffering from his demons in the night
I have watched him mutter quietly and then stare off out of sight
Demons of all shapes and sizes come to punch and kick and bite
And I know I can’t dispel them for they fill my heart with fright
I watch helpless as they torture him for I don’t have the right
To free him from their scaly claws and drag him towards the light

*****

I have seen a change come over him as he struggles deep inside
With these demons who surf roughshod on his elemental tide
Deep within himself the circling demons swoop and flap and glide
Taking him down, ever deeper, on a dark demented ride
In the deepest darkest abyss, that is where the worst things hide
It’s the place where all his failures live, the place his true love died

*****

Right beside her in this abyss endless corpses still remain
Of a myriad of talents to which at one time he laid claim
Once a masseur and a healer, once a cook of no small fame
So much talent left behind him for the demons he can’t tame
For the demons who inside him come to tear and gouge and maim
For the demons who break all the rules so they can win the game

*****

This is real life, there’s no happy ending to this tale sad but true
Just a man who’s dying slowly, hands all clammy, cold and blue
If I thought that I could save him, rest assured that’s what I’d do
He has so much to contribute… I wish to God I only knew
How to show him that I understand what he’s been going through
That I’m his brother and I love him. That I’m going to help him, too.