the son whose questions of the father
are met with wide-eyed silence
sometimes thinks it’s all his will
one last lesson in self-reliance
as if he asked for it
to be this way
asked not to be taken
asked instead to fade
as if he knew the son’s
most deepest fears
and found a way to make the shock of his own death
stretch out across ten years
so withdrawal could come gradually
for the son he saved so many times from drowning in the sea
for the son who never thought he’d ever stand
without holding onto his father’s hand
this father found a way
to break his son’s reliance
by slowing fading into a chair
and meeting his questions with silence
