Brothers

By Tashreet Kaur

As a kid i never called on mama or papa

Instead I followed you around, curious

Struggling with your name turned it into “jay”

You were not conceived from the same womb as me

but our blood ran so deep despite it

I’d hold onto your hand tight

Tears in my eyes you’d form into laughter

Even if you were the cause of the cry

Bullying, teasing, mocking and bothering

Yet you hinder me from the love i lost

Time went by ever so quickly

Scarcely meeting, rarely calling

Nitpicking at small details of change

condemning every new phase

tearing at the bond we had once held

Still when my heart beckons to give up

I’m found all foolish in front of you

You don’t ask why

And soon I’m laughing again

Like nothing ever happened

In unison i do the same as you

As I care for the one who did share the same womb as me

He follows me around, coping anything and everything

I realise the annoyance though it never foreshadowing the care

I became the hand the little reached for

Thus I learn to hold myself back

I bite my tongue so his flowers can sprout

I fight in the silence so he can have more

I turn his tears into laughter no matter how bittersweet

As my flower garden budded from your tender care I now till his

So he never sees a drying root or colourless petal

By Tashreet Kaur