Brothers
(for Dad and Uncle Tub)
Even then you were in his corner.
Under a county fair tent,
Tub going toe to toe
nearly the full four
till finally being rung up
by a ringer who through a right
when Tub looked left. You watched
him freeze, sway, then crumble
like a tower, ankles & shins tucked
awkwardly underneath, eyes set,
oblivious to the cool towel &
your brotherly cries for acknowledgment.
Now fifty years later
at his bedside, the bout
is replayed for you. Heaving
& gasping, eyes set again,
you see the wind slowly taken from him.
This time not by a roundhouse right
but the deliberate punches
of a malignant liver & lung.
And this morning
as they lower Tub
your face is dry & distant
but the smile you flash to me
is betrayed by the arc of your shoulders,
collapsed & sagging
under the weight
of a closely observed fight.
(from the chapbook PRAYERS & LAUGHTER, 1990 - also published in The Heartlands Today)
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