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Beside you at the table,
I watch your hand
holding the fork
over your fish
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& I feel my tie to you
pull tight,
intact,
my brother.
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Your wrist,
though somewhat larger,
matches mine,
the way it always has.
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Exaggerated bump of bone,
like a small egg
beneath the skin,
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the way our father's wrists
are made.
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I always liked that,
such visible evidence
of our belonging to him.
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I'd watch his hands
above the chessboard,
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in the warming house
tightening our skates.
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And suddenly I feel
I need to see him.
There's so little of him left.
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To sit with him
and run my thumb
along his wrist.
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To check this missing
man's identity.
To feel the tie pull tight,
intact,
my father.
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