Your father is hospitalized
When you're on a trip.
You head back readily to
Assist your mom.
The resentment you had
About him melts in the
Background and a sense
Of gratitude fills you up.
The urge to utter that
Last 'thanks' gets stuck
In the clutter of paying
For the medical bills.
He recovers anyway.
Only to abuse your mom,
The way he always did.
You translate your gratitude
Into an unapologetic elegy
That doesn't materialize.
But this isn't the first time
This has happened, right?
Maybe that's how this
Father and son thing is.
This relationship,
Always dissipates-
Between the gratitude
You can't express and
The hateful elegies
You almost wrote.