Taken To Soon

-Taken To Soon-
by Keaton Foster



Distant
The land
Vacant
The man
Far away
Not today
Before
He disappeared
I didn’t
Know him
Stranger
My mother’s
Second lover
Father
By chance
I knew of him
Through
Persistence
I understood why
But I remained
Quite silent
Before she
My mother died
She asked of me
Precious son
My boy
The love
I’ve avoided
The one
Not admitted
Is your kin
Your blood
His loins
Are yours
Your likeness
Is his
Seek him out
No longer
Live in doubt
See his face
Ask him why
Even if
The answer
Matters not
Know for yourself
As to how come
He never once
Came forward
Why he refused
To claim you
As his true son
As his flesh
And his blood
Ask him you must
Upon my end
Please if you can
Keep this promise
She died
All but a few days
After she pressed me
To find the answers
To questions
That up until
She posed them
I never considered
Remotely important
I buried her
Next to the man
I had always
Called father
In peace I’m sure
They’ll now be
At ease
My life seemed
But as she asked
As she required
I had to try
So I set off
I made my way
To a place
Far beyond home
A place
I would never
Otherwise go
And for days
I looked for him
Asking questions
Speaking to anyone
Who might of
Knew him
But no one did
Not a single soul
Alive in my time
Had ever heard
Of the man
My mother said
Was my creator
Disillusioned
Feeling as if
I had broken a promise
Nearly impossible to keep
I was about to give up
To leave
The idea behind
I had tried
And for me
Certainly not her
That seemed as if
That would be enough
But before I left
Before I moved on
To my new life
Completely alone
By an off chance
At the edge of small road
On the outskirts of town
I saw a cemetery
One that looked as if
It had been there
For many years
I could find no keeper
But I did ask another visitor
And he assured me
That everyone who
Had ever been anyone
Was buried there
I knew his name
My father
First and last
I surmised his age
And began looking
Row by row
Stone by stone
Name by name
Indeed it took me
Several tedious hours
But I did find him
His name
Clear and precise
And poetically written
Below it
Was a special note
Certainly left by his own
Mother and father
Thus, there it was
I had the answer
The one she required
But never once
Asked herself
He, my father
John William Foster
Was born
June 23, 1942
The date that he died
Was the same as the day
That I, his son was born
The special note read
Taken to soon
And even though
I never knew him
I must admit
In that moment
And since
I agree…


Taken To Soon
Written by Keaton Foster Copyright © 2015.