Just a little poem I wrote a little while ago from a sudden flash of inspiration. It's one of my first poems that kinda rhymes (lines 2 and 4 of each verse)and still relays the message I was getting at. In case you don't know, "Otouto" is Japanese for 'little brother' :)
For Otouto
I know you were always standing there,
I could feel your gaze upon my back,
Sad, forlorn, and abandoned,
Yet even to comfort you, I would not turn and look back.
\\\
The years of my suffering are but naught,
Compared to the pain you felt,
For betrayal of kin and kind
Always wounds deeper than the cruelest belt.
\\\
I knew you stood waiting,
Just beyond the door,
Wishing I would take you back,
Never admitting those times were never more.
\\\
I thought I was protecting you,
But I only harmed you worse;
By never reaching out to you,
I only deepened your hurts.
\\\
Now I sit alone in my thoughts,
Staring at myself;
I am forced to reckon my sins,
And leave my petty excuses on the shelf.
\\\
I know I've hurt and used you,
Though I wish it wasn't so;
I have looked deep into my inner self
And saw what I missed before—a hole.
\\\
The place where your love and trust
Would go was empty, bereft
And if I were to reach out now, I fear you would turn away
I know I was not the best of brothers, and you have nothing left
To give the one who broke his promise,
But now I do swear to you, Otouto,
My heart is once again in the right place
And so I want you to know
I do know you're there,
I know you used to care for me from the depths of your soul
Although I did not deserve it;
The only time I refused your love, I feared I'd corrupt you, body and soul.
\\\
Now I see all that I have done,
All the pain I've caused you, Otouto,
I've one last thing to say, no matter what happened in the past,
This always remains true: oh, little brother, I do love you so.