brother poem

those on the top say they know you, earth-they are liars
there was never a sound beside the wood but one
did you ever see an alligator
out of the window a sea of green trees
i despise my friends more than you
eighty years have passed, and more
she was a beauty in the days
not from the whole wide world
while i stood listening, discreetly dumb
out of me unworthy and unknown
have you heard
i have heard them in the night
i am dying
when, full of warm and eager love