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“
The Empty Bed
A father teaches a son(0.00 / 0 votes)
everything he knows . . .
Sometimes, it
isn’t enough
Furrows plowing, seedlings
dying, a daughter screams,
As young Johnny goes off
to the city
A step-child of his
own desire
Wandering the avenues
and alleyways
Searching high in the lights
for his name
But only a shadow
comes down from the neon
Dark and invisible
as he walks
A soul without
acceptance
A new emptiness fills
the hardened cracks,
—and hallowing cement void
Where the stench of severed roots
and singed beginnings,
—meet and die
And from 1000 miles
a father walks in the darkness,
—ancient and alone
Passing an empty bed
in a dimly lit country hallway,
—asking why
(Chicago Illinois: July, 1977)
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Citation
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"The Empty Bed" Poetry.com. STANDS4 LLC, 2021. Web. 17 Apr. 2021. <https://www.poetry.com/poem/45337/the-empty-bed>.