For Mikhail

Sometimes only to myself I wonder why I permitted you to go that day You seemed to know then better than I I cannot shake the thought like a tree I cannot make the leaves of memory dry Deep roots are here, burried in the clay Of feelings, fossils of my pain The loss - that we shall never run again Along the street and laugh until they see But cannot tell what separates a father From a child. How smart you were, how Brave to go, knowing it was the end But I sometimes from sleep cry out Where the blood stain carpet plagues doubt A father's heart broken must never mend Mikhail, Mikhail, Mikhail, why did I not see I could have hidden you from the tragedy.