And he took his father to the flame and his father mentioned
I’m not a goat
And the boy mentioned no you aren’t a goat
And the daddy mentioned the place are the goats
And the boy mentioned you’re a goat as we speak or you’ll be a goat
The daddy considered hybrid beasts and mentioned nothing
He regarded with love on the unusual youngster he created
He considered how laborious it had been to maintain the boy alive
And when the boy led him down the loss of life path he stored pondering
I needs to be in cost
However I’m drained and I can’t do something to realize management
I’m crinkled, worn-out, sick of seeing
Issues get destroyed in my identify
Do I thoughts that I is likely to be become another person’s burden?
Additionally, I like my son’s dedication
Somebody, the voice of X, instructed him to take me to the flame
Somebody critical, a reputable character,
Advised him to take me to the flame
It could have been completely cheap to withstand
To say look, son, this isn’t the type of factor it’s best to do to your father
However I used to be drained and the kid was persistent and I puzzled
How lengthy will this factor go on?
It’s true, I’m outdated now
I don’t truly need to dwell that for much longer
However there are a couple of extra issues I’ve to do
Is it presumptuous to say there’s a future that will depend on me?
The Earth has its personal concepts
The ocean has different concepts
And the sky has concepts
There are only a few our bodies falling from the sky as we speak
I feel I acknowledge a few of them
They’re my youngsters and one in every of them whispers to me
This isn’t the fitting method to dwell
And to dwell within the incorrect means is to die within the incorrect means
Who mentioned that and what did they imply?
Earlier than he takes me to the flame I inform my son
There may be nothing left to do right here on Earth
I welcome the ache and I welcome my son’s audacity
I like his fingers as they grip my shirtsleeve
In these fingers I really feel disappointment, tenacity, anger, hope
I really feel the violence of the centuries filling up in his blood
I understand how lonely it’s in his physique
The expectations of our individuals are extraordinary
This poem seems within the February 2025 print version.