Brother's Keeper

The feral, festering burn that brands him traitor
Sears his skin, as though he has been split
Open from sternum to spine
And the sun has been sealed, sewn, stitched

Inside.

The sweat-slick sheen of perspiration
Drenches his brow and drips down into his eyes
Like salty, stinging ocean rain, smelling of brine.

But more torturous is the memory of yielding flesh
Underneath his clenching palms--
The memory of his brother's back
As they walked through the ripening cornfields,
Golden and green and radiant in the sun,
Dawn's silver dew yet undried.

Younger ahead, elder behind.

As it should have been,
As it would have been.

The traitorous sun illuminates his betrayal--
His bleeding, bloodstained hands,
But he prays for night with its pressing pelt of darkness
To bury Brother's broken, sun-bleached bones
Yellowing in the soil.