Brothers
The phone call behind him,
shock still fresh in his ears,
the surviving brother
reaches for memories
long archived in the depths
of a cerebral vault,
untapped for a half-century
and more until this unending night
Images of two laughing brothers
upon hand-built rafts forged of scrap
barn wood, frayed ropes and faith,
floating on creek waters
into the rapids of his
consciousness—
a pair of young captains,
made of invincible braveness, are
summoned into this sobering moment
to placate a suddenly lonesome man’s
shattered hope to bond and build
more durable craft with his brother
In irretrievable youth
as in this irreversible hour
and the tomorrows of his mourning,
he realized
he always wanted more
of his big brother’s time
About the Author: Leslie M. Rupracht is an editor, poet, writer, and visual artist living in the Charlotte/Lake Norman region of North Carolina since 1997. Her words and artwork appear in various journals (most recently Gargoyle), anthologies, group exhibits, and a chapbook, Splintered Memories (Main Street Rag, 2012). Longtime senior associate editor of now-retired Iodine Poetry Journal, Rupracht also edited NC Poetry Society’s 2017 and 2018 Pinesong anthology. Swearing off a corporate work relapse, Rupracht co-founded and hosts Waterbean Poetry Night at the Mic in Huntersville, NC.
Image Credit: “Portrait of Two Seated Boys” (1850s) Digital image courtesy of the Getty’s Open Content Program.
As It Ought To Be 
Thank you, Leslie!
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