A W O L Poem by Long Tooth

Now 'Absent without leave, ' I get blood heirs cannot be more!
And yet they're not to blame (nor is the fault entirely mine) .
When Cuba welcomed atom bomb, put Russians at our door
And lucky meant you don't survive; resigned I thought, "that's fine! "

To father any child (push life into the void) not fair!
It seemed to me Hell found the earth (but maybe I was wrong?)
In time (by luck?) things calmed, but parents died without son's heir,
Without a grandchild's smile or slightest chance of future song.

It's only now with thinning hair that I feel some regret,
My genes will die (no latent breath) , though poems bear my name.
Perhaps some child will read a verse, and feel he's in my debt,
And smiling, wish his dad, "Godspeed! ? " May God's Grace end my shame!


Long Tooth
April 18,2018