Consummate pain
Like a cruel wrench
Gripped his heart -
And crushed, it bled
A father's tears.

No words define
His anguished grief
A wretched loss
His own son...
His seed.

The baby he carried
In his arms
And nurtured
In paternal love
Now broken, scarred -
A shriveled man,
His father's eyes
Now bleed.

He'd take him back
To be his child
Return him safely
To his past
No war could touch him
Hidden there
His eyes see through
An hourglass.

My boy, my son-
What have they done?
Your life a mangled mess-
What's left to do
These father's tears
Will not replace
The boy, the man
That I once knew!