Fathers and Sons

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  • Life

    Poem Commentary

    This is an answer to Waylon Jennings song "Fathers and Sons" written by Gary Nicholson and John Jarvis. Unfortunately I didn't have a warm fuzzy relationship with my father. He was a violent man who abused everyone who ever got close to him. I wound up in group homes and foster care. On my 17th birthday I joined the Army and landed in Vietnam. So... this piece acknowledges that we can't all have warm supportive relationships with our fathers, and that somehow, somewhere, we are all held accountable for our actions.

    Fathers and Sons

     As a kid you were bruised,
    You had no place to run,
    I know you were scared,
    You thought no one cared,
    But finally when all's said and done,

    Are we lords of our fate?
    Do we have the control,
    To do what is right,
    To do it in spite
    Of the numerous scars on our soul?

    And I know when you died,
    That you died all alone,
    Your kids were not there,
    Your life was not fair,
    You were given no chance to atone.

    But that's just how it is,
    For that's how the course runs,
    We choose our own way,
    In the end we must pay...

    That's how it always has been...

    The end is no place to begin...

    We've got to stick to our guns...

    Us fathers and sons.

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    dahlusion commented on Fathers and Sons

    01-21-2013

    "But that's just how it is, That's how the course runs, We choose our own way" —truth is in this paragraph. Bravo!
    Reply to Comment

    gmcookie

    01/21/2013

    Dah, This is the truth I've lived with all my life. I hope your relationship with your father is better than this. I made certain that I never made the same mistakes with my kids. The smart man learns from his mistakes. The wise man learns from other's mistakes..

    bklynrizz commented on Fathers and Sons

    01-20-2013

    It gives truth to the Bible verse, "We reap what we sow." A good poem, sad though.
    Reply to Comment

    Poetry is not the expression of personality but an escape from personality.

    T. S. Eliot (1888-1965) American-English poet and playwright.

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