Only a moment ago stood a father
Keys in his hands to a truck that lost its driver
To a bad decision and a bottle of beer
Sitting in a dark room is a bed
That will no longer hold a body

Down the hall a mother breaks
Feeling the loss of a last breath
As if it were her own punctured lungs
Hitting the steering wheel
As water floods the engine

Two men stand at her doorstep
One refusing to look her in the eyes
The other apologizing for his words
That should never be said
For the labeling of childless parents

Before this moment a boy sat
Posed as a man on the edge of a bar stool
Consuming his death wish through his lips
An apology engraved in the fold of his throat
Giving an approximation to his silence