Annette Marie Hyder

i call out — not
your name —
but my brother's name
he who has been gone
these nine years

i have no recollection
of the dream in which this happened
only another's word that this is so
but i believe it
because he's been on my mind

with thoughts of empty skies
sunrises that keep on coming
heartlessly beautiful
without him in the world

how those sunrises
get strung like beads
on the bracelet of remembrance
shine and click together
as the hands of my thought
move in conversation

i move my hands a lot
when i talk
and i know that the hands of my mind
are moving too
counting off my sunrise beads
like a rosary
that takes me closer to teddy