My Brother Lived Light-Heartedly
(i.m. Vincent McGrath 1955-2020)

My brother lived light-heartedly

He was on the road at twelve
Came back ten years later
Out of a sense of duty of  fatherhood
Not too far away

At the funeral of an aunt I asked him
Why he came back
I never left  he said  I was always here
What are you talking about

I could tell from his eyes he was right
I had imagined everything

My father’s pride  mother’s tears
A sister’s illness   red-brown blood
Filling the hearth

Even the joy short-lived of his occasional
returns

& the silence when he left
that can never be written down

 

(Last updated January 2021)