He Is Always My Brother

He is always my brother,

pleated, protective, standing tall before us;
a pillar amongst pillars
upholding our temple of the law;
I remember his laugh over our table,
and the way his eyes met his smile
at my daughters absurd interrogations.

Now a steadfast black wall in the gleam of winter
gazing under visors, unsure and unyielding

He is always my brother

That man cut off from the crowd
lost a moment in his viewfinder
caught in the arms of dark angels,
and brought into their plated folds;
a witness, a sacrifice.
Black wands lifted over plexi-glass towers,
brought down in circles to smite the dissonance,

beautiful drops rain down among our guardians
gravity's guilt and the sweat of uncertainty

He is always my brother

From the murder, a pair of the onyx overseers erupt,
emboldened by blood, they fly forward
this violence tearing at a sorrow, unfelt
in a rush, a cry for help, they brandish sticks
our crazed protectors, we will receive you!
buffeted by a desperate reception of faces, flowers
familiar hands outstretch, mothers, uncles, youth
til their armored burdens are cast down, embracing the forgotten

so long in the halls of law forging swords and chains to keep order
caryatid's divergent heart, numb mind, and strong fist give way

He is always my brother

Our flight calls out in rhythmic waves
a beseeching song; a defiant verse
picked up by sandstone passages and past on
the syllables, the coughs, a struggle for breath
I run forward to meet him, my brother,
(Will he see me racing towards him?)
as shots ring, shells tracing putrid clouds
seeping into me, his confusion, suppressed motion
Set free

sour fated missiles clang on pavement as I pass
and their divine obsidian greets my furrowed cloth and flesh
to reveal my red life flashing out like water
and I know him as I always know him
age upon age as I strive for breath

Facing me
In streets and fallow fields where birds sing
in Seasons repeating, waiting for
Our eyes to meet, (silent flashes of dinner tables, drinks)
He gathers me like flowers, hurried and calm
Placed on this alter so long concealed
He clings to me in soft release,
a prayer, a confession
forgiven.

Clamorous, unceasing melodies climb over us,
converging winds unifying towards the summit.
We pass into it and sing.