ELEGY Poem: Night After Night, by Vienna Hayes

Brother of mine,
I fly to you on thread wings.
Speak now with hands to chin,
clasped shut.
Waiting.
Racing against the sun.

Brother of mine,
You speak only in constellations,
Night After Night.
And although I am no astrologer
I’ll decipher the sky,
searching for your reply.

Brother of mine,
each day when the sun wakes
and the stars fade away,
I wrench the last few from my eyes.
Keeping them safe in my pillowcase.

Brother of mine,
I write to you on rainy days
with cigarette ash.
Lungs filled with pennies,
coughing copper luck.
Mapping your face in nicotine-stained clouds.

Brother of mine
You write with whispering worms
fuelled by formaldehyde.
Phantom madness escaping your cotton tied tongue,
Binding ears to earth
Nails thick with dirt
I burrow.
O’ Brother, I burrow,
Night after Night.