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Father to Son

                                  Elizabeth Jennings

I do not understand this child
Though we have lived together now
In the same house for years. I know
Nothing of him, so try to build
Up a relationship from how 
He was when small. 

Yet have I liked
The seed I spent or sown or it where
The land is his and none of mine? 
We speak like strangers, there's no sign 
Of understanding in the air. 
This child is built to my design 
Yet what he loves I cannot share. 

             



Silence surrounds us. I would have 
Him prodigal, returning to
His father's house, the home he knew, 
Rather than see him make and move
His world. I would forgive him too, 
Shaping from sorrow a new love. 

Father and son, we both must live 
On the same globe and the same land, 
He speaks: I cannot understand 
Myself, why anger grows from grief. 
We each put out an empty hand, 
Longing for something to forgive. 

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