For Larry

His brother’s friends would seldom have discovered

that two sons had been born to Larry's mother

no pictures did he show of older brother

but proudly he would indicate the others

Poor Larry had died long before his suicide

The much repeated stories of the family

excluded any references to Larry

as though that brother were a shameful memory

quite consciously abolished from their history

Poor Larry had died long before his suicide

Paternal identity was the family's shame

entombed in the ignominy of Larry's name

His mother married and his siblings changed their name

but Larry was rejected as though he were to blame

Poor Larry had died long before his suicide

Misfit and outcast, dispatched to institutions

abandoned to a life of social destitution

with rare invitations from family relations

there’s nought to lose or gain he felt upon reflection

Poor Larry had died long before his suicide

A settlement they shared as though to seal a pact

that the truth of Larry's life and the cause of his last act

would be bottled up in secrecy and abandoned to the tide

Poor Elby had died long before his suicide

The loss of a child his mother one day would declare

was a tragedy she was thankful to say she had been spared

Unremembered he had vanished along with the tide

Poor Elby had died long before his suicide