I found a picture of you today
I looked at it
for hours
without any sense of
recognition.

Eyes I had once known
so well
now hold no memories

Your smile
so familiar
now seems somehow foreign

I looked at your photo
and felt nothing
except a vague
feeling
that once
long long ago
I might have met you
Briefly

It made me so sad
I had known you for seventeen years
and when you died
you did so a stranger
a brief acquaintance

I feel a hole in my life
where you should be
after all
Stranger or not
you were my
Brother
for
Seventeen years