Blood Brother

Imprisoned in my heart of stone,
behind iron bars of bitterness,
smothered by the excrements
of my own mistakes.

A question flashes through my mind,
a sunbeam cutting through the clouds:
Shyly you ask for my sadness,
cautiously stretch out your hand
begging for my pain.

My tears
already bedew your cheeks,
have always been oozing dark
and heavy from your heart.

Our hands clasped,
our fingers interwoven,
warm and protective
your arm settles on mine,
your wounds on mine,
and draw out all the pain,
all the stinging, poisoning grief,
all the festering failure.

This mystery surpasses
everything – you want to be my
everything – blood brother – hope
pulses through my veins, your love
courses through me, carries me
back again to life.

8.8.2004

I think the poem can be understood by itself, but if you want to know more, chapter 2 contains a testimony that kind of explains it.