06-08-2017, 01:33 PM
A Poem For Tom
I chose to be the man I am,
I faced you without shame.
You chose to turn away from me,
you never speak my name
or show, by touch or look or word
emotion or regret.
You walk a rigid, narrow path,
your way is straight and set,
and I would say the fault is yours
and speak of you with scorn,
but time and thought have stilled my tongue
and mended what was torn.
You learned your life in darker days,
in days when silence reigned,
from men who shaped and formed the world
so virtue held unstained,
and by their deeds and with their words
they taught conformity,
so things were not the way they were,
but as they ought to be.
I wonder, do you ever think
of all the things you've lost
by choosing image over love,
and was it worth the cost.
I chose to be the man I am,
I faced you without shame.
You chose to turn away from me,
you never speak my name
or show, by touch or look or word
emotion or regret.
You walk a rigid, narrow path,
your way is straight and set,
and I would say the fault is yours
and speak of you with scorn,
but time and thought have stilled my tongue
and mended what was torn.
You learned your life in darker days,
in days when silence reigned,
from men who shaped and formed the world
so virtue held unstained,
and by their deeds and with their words
they taught conformity,
so things were not the way they were,
but as they ought to be.
I wonder, do you ever think
of all the things you've lost
by choosing image over love,
and was it worth the cost.