HE'S HEAVY, HE'S MY BROTHER-IN-LAW

He is argumentative and surly
but his problems started very early-
almost from baby's first breath-
a premature birth, a delayed maturity,
heading toward a premature death

He's my brother-in-law
but only in Massachusetts
and he is living in Ohio-
my home state where I am not allowed to marry-
So is he really my brother-in-law
whom I am legally allowed to carry?

He doesn't have that barrier, because he is straight,
but he cannot hold a job, and has rarely had a date

He is not someone easy to like
He doesn't know how odd he strikes
His life is a surfeit of expensive pills
and a decided lack of social skills

He answers the door, medicated and slow
One step away from the street, with no place left to go
He leads you to the bathroom, with something interesting to show
He is so very proud of the bathroom vanity
that he installed, twenty years ago

All by himself.
And so he lives.  All by himself.

Of such accomplishments, he is no longer able
He leads you to the kitchen,
and points to a knife, sitting on the table
-as if you should obviously know why
For a moment, to hide your discomfort,
unconvincingly, you try

Mentally, your escape, you begin to plot
until you realize, a threat this is not
His vision is starting to fail
and he wants you to help him open his mail

He says that he has no seizures, anymore
He was in the emergency room in April,
but he doesn't know what for

He says that people from the state stop by
to help him pay his bills
when he is having problems, with his motor skills

Very nice of them to do,
but here is a hospital bill that is overdue,
and a warning about shutting off the gas
and disconnecting a phone
that he does not know that he even has

But there is no cause for distress,
He says that he gets help with his bills, from the IRS

Internal? Revenue?
He struggles to remember the meaning of the words
He knows the first two letters, but not the third
Not bad, so far
He says that you come by to help,
but he does not remember, exactly who you are

At this new-found responsibility,
you begin slightly to squirm
Then he says that he gives his mail to Michael,
his friend at the investment firm
He says that for now, everything is OK
but you know that he is an easy prey
for con artists to commit legalized crime
and walk away with his very last dime

Do you think that you could never be him?
Suddenly, a victim of Life's cruel whims?
Do you think that he could never be you?
Do you think that Life is kinder,
to those blessed with higher IQ?
No injury or disease to take it all away?
Slowly to find your self living
in perpetual fog and haze?

Unpleasant duty calls, you must take your cue
No one else will come to his rescue
As sad a human being as you ever saw,
He's Heavy, He's My Brother-In-Law