Orange Peels

Not quite finished almost there though!

Brother,
Brother!
Are you listening? Listen!
Listen!
“Go on,”
Remember that day?
“The beach?”
We were only children,
At the oldest eleven or twelve-
And us singing,
As if we were toddlers.
“As if we were very young.”
The pretty girls how we
“Noticed,” already-
And the one with errant curls
Playing games across her face,
How pale and freckled it was....
“And how strangely she looked,
With orange peels held tightly in the palms of her
Hands.”

Was it you or I, who loved her first?

“Does it matter?”

I suppose not!
For you...
“Won I know! Little good it does .....”

You are falling!
Up! Get up, up, up, up!
With a little patience they say!
Not you, always in your own time!

Speak a little more!

“The motorcade, the fan fare, the drums,
The yelling the cheering, that glimmer of father on your cheeks,
The music and what bliss.
And then that face, masked in blood, while children wailed
And cameras glittered red!
You remember it as I do?”

“All too well! She still had
The scent of orange across her neck”

Revenge wasn’t it?

“Perhaps!”

Mother begged us not to!

“Boys completely gone mad,”
She said.
Still only, “Young,” she said!
“Our lives she had painted out before us.”

You to be a doctor.
Me-
To remain happy I suppose-
For I was always a fool!

Brother, brother!
With a little time,
With a little patience!

“What was it she told us?
And what we repeated over and over.”

You shall never be as happy as you were!
We shall never be as happy as we are!
Or something along those lines at any rate!

“Remember the toast, tea and cakes?”
We must have been very, very young.
And mother running around us singing.

“When my three years are over
My time it will be out
And I will pay my debt to you
By blowing the candles out.

Nuair a bhíonn mo trí bliana thar
Mo am a bheidh sé amach
Agus beidh mé mo fiacha a íoc leat
Trí blowing an candles amach.”

Brother it was the right thing,
Wasn’t it?
“With a little time, and a little patience,
I shall soon find out!”

May the Lord
Save you and raise you up.

“Amen.”

Author's Note

Constructive Destruction please!

Reviews

[AtticusBlack]

You never fail to amaze me with the form of your poems, I am a stickler for form as it were, I often think the form is almost as important as the words, and you show this. You don't stick to the normal way of writing poetry, it's a lot different to what I have seen before. Another great poem AHouseOfChambers.

[Chirinos20]

This is a great poem. From beginning to end, It held my attention. I remember those days. when I was a child and only thought of playing. The innocence I had and how easy was to dream. This poem bring back those memories to me. Its a great piece. Keep writing. well done!!!

[Alicante lullaby]

hmmm,changes,,, i love it,,,its flowy,,,it's more citric,,, the feeling so strong already are kinda heightened,,,iam a bit more certain its an episode to your first writes,,,lovely,,,pickling,,

[heido]

I enjoy the rhythm of this. As soon as you think you've pinned it down it changes abruptly and you must adjust everything you were hinging on to make sense of the words. It's lovely. It seems to resemble life in this way. The constant forming and reforming of ourselves and the rhythms we bounce between.

[Tate Morgan]

Hmm Well I think it is a tale like many lives of the desire to relive childhood How romantic and blessed we all are to have had one
Tate

[Alicante lullaby]

cant think of any words,,,its saddening,,,an episode perhaps to your first writes,,,reminds me of ''Mourning becomes Electra'',,,i loved''mother begged us......''and how you had started,,,heart melting,,,ruthlessness of love and the same confusing, attractive envelope holding enclosed, your work,,,,,