Sonnet for the Brothers
Two brothers stare out from a shed full of wood
they split with an axe, exposing the grain;
stack logs with hands warmed inside good, wool
gloves they darned over and over again.
There’s a blurred reflection in a mirror where
some teeth are missing from a plain, black comb.
The towels have labels: ‘up here’ and ‘down there’
and every object has a place to call home.
Protected by plastic, two radios endure;
long-lived bedspreads cover single beds.
Hans Nielsen Hauge and ‘Ingen som Far og Mor’
pictures on a wall above the brothers’ heads.
You might see these details of life as poor
Mathias and Harald wanted nothing more.
© Julie Lydall