Chocolate Eyes

What happened is Eddie fell into a scalding bathtub.
I was upstairs with cousins in their second floor
apartment of our two-family house.
 
I didn’t want to know what happened.  Downstairs
was hysteria, with a dose of free-floating rage.  Doors
slamming.  Curses.  Blame ganging against the windows.
 
I wanted to keep out of the picture, not become a target.
Jane went, found out he was ok, advised I stay up there
with them.  I did.  It could have been for hours.
 
Then all the yelling stopped so I had to go home., resign
myself that was where I lived.  Mother attacked me
for not coming down.  Was I really so selfish, not caring 
 
about my brother?  Truth-baby brother is the reason why
I know how to love.  The time I met him home from being
born. On his back in the crib, chocolate eyes directly at me.

The author is Micky Shorr. 

Image by Volkan Olmez