Father to Son Poem

 Father to Son

by 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 killed

The seed I spent or sown 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.