Brothers

Goose flesh stippled the skin of the new stripped boys Giggling and shuffling like ducklings Towards the pool Their mother, shoe horning her breasts Into an out-grown costume had shooed two sons away To the waves, artificially blue, Trompe l'oeil of heaven The elder led the younger from the crowd As a priest marks off a sacrifice from the herd The younger, trusting, chubby, an innocent Toddled unthinking on. The quick shove Plunged him fathoms out of his depth The water closed above him like a lid A small eternity elapsed. Time froze. The mother noticed the terrible absence Screams brought a diver, a saviour Who fished her dripping son in his arms, Up from the water. Flopped on his belly, Head to the right, he was a still life. Then he twitched and vomited water Death stepped back. The day resumed its course