I recently revisited and modified a poem I wrote in 2011.

2020 update: My dreams are less dreadful, but the fraternal love is just as strong.

 

A Brother’s Last Embrace

For the third straight night

I have had this dream:

My brother and I

Sprinting across an abandoned field.

We are two young boys being chased,

By whom I do not know.

It is daytime,

But the sky is very dark.

I can see my breath as we run—

Clouds of fear.

 

The first two nights

I sense them gaining on us.

My eyes are straight ahead,

But I can feel their heavy footsteps

Closing in.

My brother stumbles

And I hear his body hit the hard ground.

I just keep running

Or they would have gotten me too.

 

On this third night

My brother falls once again.

This time, I too

Come to a halt.

I see his frightened face

And outstretched hand.

I comfort him with an embrace,

Our last one.

And then they are upon us.