Pictures Of My Family

(On The Occasion Of Having Received Electronically A Picture Of My Immediate Family, And Under Somewhat Trying Circumstances Regarding Said Relationships)

Pictures Of My Family

There was my mother;

                   a stranger

To me, really; more

Of a custodian merely

As I was lounging on the sideline of life,

                        waiting

For my big entrance

Into The Game of Life

As a quarterback

Or more;

                and then

There was my father:

                a cipher

                         in

   the background 

And thus allowing me

To be my own boss

As I grew up

Into my greater role;

               and then

             there was

My brother:

             an example

To me of my estrangement

From these people

          around me

          in their current

          incarnation

         (a condition

    that perhaps I

    had something to do

    about);

                 and then

                 there is

My brother’s little family

                  (for I

Have none of my own

This time around),

                  sitting on

My computer, 

                 gaily

               enjoying

                    the

     weather.

             (Sent to me

          out of a sense

                   of fealty,

                   since I

             played father 

                           to

                the brood

             at one point

             upon the untimely 

                  death

            of my stranger    

                brother

            out of a sense

                of duty

                to him

For services rendered

                along

            The Way.)

                            But

Strangers all, really,

        comparatively.

          As compared

          that is to say

          to the pictures

          in my psyche

Of my real family:

           the Family

     of Man.

Now facing a decision:

                whether

         to separate

         in the act

    of Ascension

                  (going on

             as we speak)

Or to stay together,

             in this peak

       experience;

            heading back

            from whence

            we came.

       Decisions.  De-

           cisions.