Portrait of My Dead Brother, 1963, by Kathryn de Leon

Portrait of My Dead Brother, by Salvador Dali (Spain) 1963

Portrait of My Dead Brother, 1963

Surrealist artist Salvador Dali had a brother who died in infancy nine months before Dali's birth. Dali's parents took their five-year-old son to his brother’s grave and told him he was the reincarnation of his brother.

You were first. I followed.
I was born from your death,
a Phoenix rising from your grave.

I picked up where you left off.
I am the two of us.
I am a broken twin.

This canvas is a mirror.
It is slowly gathering your forgotten face,
the lost parts coming together
like a flock of dark seagulls
moving into formation.
It is my face but strangely different.
It is a soft clock with no hands.

You are a shattered constellation
collecting your own wandering stars.

After sixty years I can finally see you.
When I die, you shall see me.
Then, we will share your constellation.
You and I, Gemini,
unbroken, healed.

Kathryn de Leon

Kathryn de Leon is from Los Angeles, California but has been living in England for eleven years. Her poems have appeared in several publications in the US including Aaduna, Calliope and Black Fox, and in several in the UK,including London Grip, The Blue Nib, and The High Window where she was the Featured American Poet.