BROTHERHOOD - Annotations of the poem

1.    I am a man: I am a mere human being (with limited capabilities, compared to all the other mighty phenomena of the universe).

2.    Little do I last: I do not last for long. (My individual existence is a short one).

3.    And the night is enormous: Contrastingly, the short span of “my” life cannot grasp the enormity of existence. Here “night” may be “the unknown” to the poet; it also might signify the abysmal “darkness” that encompasses the universe. 

4.    But I look up: But, I do possess this manly prowess to shed the inhibitions of my being a little phenomenon, and the sheer quest of my soul leads me look up beyond that territory (both physical and psychological) where man is supposed to confine himself.

5.    The stars write: The celestial bodies compose – the world and its scheme of workings. (As I muster courage and “look up”, I find how the design of the universe is being written (thus directed) by grand forces of nature.

6.    Unknowing I understand: I get this realization intuitively. (This realization is an awakening natural to an inquisitive mind / In other words, the man is capable of getting this knowhow, of his own volition).

7.    I too am written: Like all other existential phenomena, however be their might and significance into the system of the universe, I am created, as if, to play a function or role. (I am not unwanted; rather, I serve a purpose).

8.    And at this very moment someone spells me out: And when I am writing this poem, someone evolves me from my mere self to a dignified one. (The act of writing is like that of the stars; thus, the stars are the creators, the Fate of the existence. Similarly, the poet is the creator, the Fate of his poem. By the time “someone” reads his poem and understands, the writer no longer remains a mere composer of a poem, rather, he exists as a designer of the world the reader inherits by reading the poem.)

“At this very moment” may mean “When the poem is being written / when the poet looks up and realizes the significance of his existence”. “Someone” may be the “reader” or the “creator” of the universe. “Spells me out” – “makes me prominent / endows me with an importance previously unknown to me.”