• The old man sits alone every night,
    Looking at the flowers so obviously placed amongst the rust.
    Closely watching out of chipped window frames,
    Ear pressed tightly to the door.



    Night and day he waits,
    For the alleged warrior to return.
    For his only son,
    To return triumphantly home.



    He showed me his picture once,
    Not much to distinguish him by,
    Same buzz cut,
    Same suite,
    Same flags handing limply in the background.
    But there was one thing different,
    A hard, unmistakable, scowl.



    It was then he told me why the son was gone.
    The old man had forced it on him,
    He wanted his son to be a brave shoulder.
    He wanted a different son then the one he got.
    But now he regretted it.



    “Lost in battle,” he told me once,
    “So now we have to find him.”
    And I helped.
    We searched for days and nights through rust,
    Rust, and flowers, and unforgiving hills.



    But we didn’t find him.
    And as time passed,
    I gave up the search too,
    Just like everyone else.



    But the old man stayed,
    And he searched,
    Long into his own eternal night.



    Years had passed,
    And I had found myself stuck in night myself.
    Alone on the street,
    Only the light cast by a single street bender to keep me company.
    But then I saw a figure,
    Limp in from the dark.
    He sat next to me and nodded his head.
    I coolly nodded back.

    “Hey,” he said gruffly, “how have you been?”
    “Fine,” I spat, “just fine on my own thanks.”
    “I-I think it’s time you came home.” He slurred, “Please son, come home.”
    I gave a twisted smirk, “I am not your son. I never was.”
    “no, no… you have always, ALWAYS, been my son. Come home.”
    I didn’t want to.
    He had given me no reason to trust him.
    He would only try to make me his “real son” again.



    But he stood up and offered a hand,
    “we can- I can. I can make things right again. I promise.”
    And I don’t know why,
    But I believed him.
    I took his hand,
    And me, and the old man walked home in the darkness.