When we were born I had my arms around his neck
& when he died I had my arms around his neck 
& each time there was a coin of heat
just where our foreheads met & each time
I looked & looked into a second set of my own eyes.
Imagine, for a moment, there is your body
& an arm’s length away there is your body again, 
but it is on horseback, but it is calling
your name, but it is built to leave you.
Imagine that this second you became a better boy
& then a better man, your better echo. 
No, imagine that you were the second voice. 
You learned your own shape as an answer to his call. 
But somehow only you were built to last
& in outlasting him you had to make a choice:
you keep your brother or your body. You go it alone, 
or you unflesh yourself entirely: consent to be bloodless, 
consent to be only an answering light.