Brothers
by Zhu Xiao Di
They were high
school classmates
graduating
from the same
college. One got
married and
divorced. The other
never married but
lived with his
mother all her life
The divorced
one was forever
cursed by his
ex-wife and
their son, for
what was done
and undone
for his family.
The unmarried
one had his
mother’s full love
and care till her
last breath. With
grey hairs and
in stooped back,
under the fading
afternoon light,
when two silver heads
bent closer together,
the two men
both swore
they would never
leave the other one
alone, as if clinging
to the last branch
in a winter wind
Who, after all,
will live longer,
after so many years
of different trials in life?