THE SEVENTH BROTHER

Our seventh brother came back.

There he is on the lawn

lying next to a rose bush.

While the morning spreads its warmth,

he shivers like a leaf.

We don’t know what he did,

where he went, what he suffered.

He stares at us crossly,

answers to the name Rat.

We shut the doors and windows

and climbed on the roof to watch him from up there

with terror and pain.