Brother Michael

... 'has got the virus'

'I eat strange herbal remedies
and Michael's ranting 'bout his disease
but I suppose, I suppose in a way
it's a kind of innocence'

'I sent him a letter of grinning condolence
with a voice like a hail of gravel'

'I'm living for names, I'm living for games
I went to see Michael and he blew out my brains'

'Brother Michael shot his girly, threw himself
from an office block, screaming:
"if I stuff my thought short maybe things will get better"'

The enigmatic figure of Brother Michael first appeared in Blind Rag (The Undertow of Evening). Charge, mentor, persecutor, double... who was Brother Michael?