My Brother's Eyes

 

I was dumbfounded to find

I had made a glaring blunder;

My brother's eyes

Stared back at me from the wall

With amused reproof, his pencil portrait

Defaced with such a shocking blot:

(Glasses unbalanced and shoddily drawn

Circled around them with his laugh-lines).

My first attempt to capture his essence.

 

On best cartridge paper I had failed to please,

perhaps from nervousness or love.

“You've done hundreds of them,

It's all that's wrong,” he smiled.

 

It took several tries before I got it right;

My brother's eyes followed me around the room.

 

Chris Hubbard

2020