No Bridges To Burn (Poetry)

I tried to love my father
but he wouldn’t yield to love
work’s duty kept him distant
planet-high he rose above

any current of affection
while the weather wore his face
stray emotions drowned within him
just frustration left its trace

He was brittle — closed to reading
hiding in a world of cloud
if his broken dreams were bleeding
then he never bled out loud

How I ached to reach my father
but he couldn’t see or hear
for the gap that yawned between us
simply widened year by year