Naomi Shihab Nye is one of my favorite poets. She lives in San Antonio, Texas, and travels widely, an ambassador for poetry. Here she captures a lovely moment from her childhood. - Ted Kooser
"Supple Cord"
My brother, in his small white bed,
held one end.
I tugged the other
to signal I was still awake.
We could have spoken,
could have sung
to one another,
we were in the same room
for five years,
but the soft cord
with its little frayed ends
connected us
in the dark,
gave comfort
even if we had been bickering
all day.
When he fell asleep first
and his end of the cord
dropped to the floor,
I missed him terribly,
though I could hear his even breath
and we had such long and separate lives
ahead.
Ted Kooser was U.S. poet laureate, 2004-06. Copyright 2005 by Naomi Shihab Nye; reprinted from "A MAZE ME," Greenwillow, 2005, by permission of the author. This column does not accept unsolicited poetry.