The Black Sheep

He loomed large over me
Since childhood; the black
Sheep in the family.

‘He looks exactly like ………,
Look at his nose, eyes…’
They used to say, the women
From the neighbourhood
Causing greater worries
To mother and aunt which
Subsequently changed
To anxious stares, filling
Me with tremendous guilt.

I loathed the said similarities
And did everything I could
To overcome his shadow.
I picked up habits which he
Didn’t seem to have and
Groomed myself as different
As possible trying to shun
Even a distant possible similarity.

But I found him the other day,
The black sheep in the family
In the mirror, giving me a cold stare
Goosebumps and a sense of futility.