Family Duties.(Poem)

 
FAMILY DUTIES 
a sestina 
 
   three places, finest cutlery just so 
   a toast to two lost loves, a meal for one 
   an album, photos, card from long ago 
   that justify the things that he had done 
   the drunken roar remembered all these years 
   the swinging bat, the cries, the blinding tears 
 
   His main concern had been his sisters' tears 
   Not his dear mother, though he loved her so 
   Her time on earth cut short to forty years 
   And he her greatest love, her number one 
   With only memories left of things they'd done 
   In years of innocence so long ago 
 
   It seems to him a thousand years ago 
   He called the cops, his voice awash with tears 
   He knew exactly what had to be done 
   His duties as their brother told him so 
   He drilled them so their stories became one 
   The version that they'd stick to through the years 
 
   The cop had seen a lot in twenty years 
   And knew ...