Every Yesterday

                                 -- A Poem for Mike --

My brother passed away yesterday,

just as he has every year, these past four years since,

while we watched, standing at his side and holding

each other, hopeful, willing him back to himself;

his last heart beats were the manual compressions

of a dutiful doctor true to his oath, his last

breaths forced into him until we said to stop, hope

lost, and he left us, leaving me here wondering

if that was the right answer to the question asked,

as I’ve wondered every year passing,

every yesterday, wondering still.