Hypothetical Dad Poem by Daniel Y.

I couldn't do it.
I couldn't be a father.
I couldn't become like you.

I realized,
I'm still that twelve-year-old boy;
you said "I'll be back in a bit."
and I'm waiting in that wet, concrete room.
And the artillery shells rained all night,
And followed me the rest of my life.

I believed you because you promised.
And now I'm angry 'cause I see the lie,
And I'm still waiting.
All I have left is that hypothetical,
Dad.

I can't keep-
I can't make that promise,
I can't come and go, uncertain.

Frozen in time,
A scared little child,
Wandering the broken streets of war.
So I leave them to each other, be-
-cause I can never be
Hypothetical.