Poetry

He built the shelf in our garage for his time,
He smiled and attempted to lightly converse,
He showed true kindness, despite the actions in a certain part of his past;
He purchased an expensive item that I did not ask for.

To my shock and self loathing, it did not occur to me to give him thanks;
To my tremendous guilt, he did not have a job to earn money.

At the time, I had no mind or knowledge
Of the dark pieces of his shadowed past.

Those fragments of time I had wondered around about his recent welfare;
The last fragment I had sound of his whereabouts,
I discovered in shock that he was in confinement, punished
For the crimes of his past; his foolish mistakes; his regrets.

Nonetheless, he was already a changed man.

If only I had thought sooner...

If only I can see him once
Just to give my unsaid thanks.