The Empty Bed Poem by Kurt Philip Behm

A father teaches a son
everything he knows...

Sometimes, it
isn't enough

Furrows plowing, seedlings
dying, a daughter screams,

As young Johnny goes off
to the city

A step-child of his
own desire

Wandering the avenues
and alleyways

Searching high in the lights
for his name

But only a shadow
comes down from the neon

Dark and invisible
as he walks

A soul without
acceptance

A new emptiness fills
the hardened cracks,
—and hallowing cement void

Where the stench of severed roots
and singed beginnings,
—meet and die

And from 1000 miles
a father walks in the darkness,
—ancient and alone

Passing an empty bed
in a dimly lit country hallway,
—asking why

(Chicago Illinois: July,1977)