For My Brother, Andrew Joseph Fleming, November 21, 1986 to November 5, 2012

Stop all the clocks, cut off the telephone,
Prevent the dog from barking with a juicy bone,
Silence the pianos and with muffled drum
Bring out the coffin, let the mourners come.

Let aeroplanes circle moaning overhead
Scribbling on the sky the message He Is Dead,
Put crêpe bows round the white necks of the public doves,
Let the traffic policemen wear black cotton gloves.

He was my North, my South, my East and West,
My working week and my Sunday rest,
My noon, my midnight, my talk, my song;
I thought that love would last for ever: I was wrong.

The stars are not wanted now: put out every one;
Pack up the moon and dismantle the sun;
Pour away the ocean and sweep up the wood.
For nothing now can ever come to any good.

Funeral Blues by W.H. Auden

My brother’s love Megan, my brother, my sister and me, right before his most recent surgery.

 

About Queerie Bradshaw

A sexpert with a law degree, Lauren Marie Fleming (a.k.a. Queerie Bradshaw) is a writer, speaker and consultant specializing in the legal and social issues surrounding sex, sexuality, gender and gender identity. As a writing teacher and editor-in-chief of the multi-author blog QueerieBradshaw.com, Lauren encourages others to tell their intimate stories as a way to remove social stigmas. Lauren is currently finishing up the final chapters of her memoir, based on her popular sex blog for Curve Magazine. She also write "Lascivious" for VICE Magazine, a column on sex and porn from a queer perspective -- with a legal twist. Always up for a chat, Lauren can be found on Twitter at @QueerieBradshaw and encourages people to say hi.
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