For Billy

No Tears Now

month by

month

the disease takes more

of him—

nights at the gym,

all the “possible cures”—

no way back—

now in his wheelchair

he stares

down the long drive

late afternoon

as around

the bend,

brother John plays with

his young son,

stirring up dust:

their shouts echo

thru the empty woods.

his mother’s at the screen,

watching him

watch the long shadows.

no tears now,

no trembling lips.

no one will break

that gaze, that revery.

The Long Road

to Cascade, where

we began

truckful of furniture

ahead

Johnny

no taillights

just like kids

brother Bill beyond,

waiting—

limp

still alive,

tubes to

inflate his lungs.

so brother comes

to brother, to

help & learn

to suck out lungs &

be there

stars & ring of black

pine & oak

sunset

first day

deer season

For Billy

not so much

what we want:

light comes in

passing thought,

in touching hands,

in quiet watching

clouds pass by,

moon in sky—

eyes must open,

mind, be calm,.

kind as kin,

this dream!

the end, certain as

a baby’s cry:

the babe, the boy,

the strapping man

spring thru a kiss,

matter less than

how we rest

awake in the dream

& see who needs

our touch, our eyes,

& know what can

& can’t be done—

light pierces

the raindrop

suspended for its

brief moment,

ornament & complement

to the oak bud’s tip.

Farewell

skull & shell in rock where

the delicate tracery of nerves once

shot the gap thru living meat,

bone digit that once pointed out

stars or tenderly touched clitoris &

birth canal in moments where

their eyes drank each other in

& their skin was singing flame—

O song! rise out of that

dead mouth now! bright babe!

leap thru those jaws

into white air again! spinning seasons,

oceans, rivers, rocks & tides &

still dawn where one leaf floated

by the boy’s dangling feet, who rose &

looked back once & walked away—

tonight a brother’s greatest gift

to brother is letting the goddess star

guide that dark sail beyond

any horizon for the knowing: that gift

is tears, yet here’s the heart

where kindness is more than kind &

kin is bond for breaking. farewell!

keep watch from that other shore,

we’re coming.