10 May 2013

The Imagined Son

You carry my picture
the way a bad catholic

carries a crucifix:
as proof

that, once, you believed
and, now, to remind you

to keep up the charade.
Our bond became,

a long time ago, more
imagined, less

remembered, and now,
it seems, only I know

the honest truth. Because I am
that boy, no longer, whose

smile shone brightly only
for you and, regrettably, whose

happiness was contingent only
upon your happiness

as I imagine it is still
for the imagined me

who, because he must,
endures the misery

of your imagined life
as he dreams of being—

me.

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