Like father.

Blood of father flowed in my vein and I can see his face.

                                      Like father.


     
                          
I look in the mirror.
What do I see?

Have I become what I despised all my life?
I have my father’s eyes.
Now I know my father’s pain.
Have my eyes become cold?
Is violence and anger my strength?

Each day I learned loss.
Loss of dreams and desires.
Kindness and gentleness forgotten.

I follow my father’s path to war.
I did what he had done.
Now I talk to dead friends lost to war in a self-made hell.

Will I become like my father?
Showing passion and emotion when I'm in violence or aroused.

Can I stop my journey to adulthood?
Can I find the path to gentleness and love?

Have I traveled too far?
Is the blood too strong?
Am I destined to hurt everyone I have loved?

My father’s hatred.
Is it my anger too?

Am I free to choose my journey?If I choose my own road.
Why did I follow my father sadness.

                                  Coyote

Author's Note

Thank you for reading. Any mistakes. Please help. Never too old to learn.

Reviews

[Renée]

Powerful images & questions ... just in asking these questions you are breaking the mold.. Great Poem & thoughts Coyote !

[Crumpet]

I am torn between reading this and enjoying the poetry, the boldness of your emotions, and wanting to comfort you! In the last aspect of this, I think it makes your work a success because it seems to come from your heart. I know nothing of critiquing poetry, but I like this. I read it silently and then aloud. Have you read it aloud to yourself, even in the mirror? It's good.

As for your dad-- the good and the bad helped him be the person he was. My dad and I had our issues. When he died, I took the good and buried the bad. OK, some of the bad stuck with me which is why I can be an ornery person ;) Learn from him-- this is how those who are gone, either dead or simply not present, can still teach us, and we can shape their legacy.

[MOON]

Poignant write sometimes we become the very thing we despise. Do what we know follow in the footsteps of our fathers shoes . The urge to break free evident in your words a poet rather then a soldier , good start.