You are not

A child

A newborn babe

A beginner in life

And you are not

An old man

An ancient

A weary soul

You are not

Struggling

Twisting

Turning

Through the awkward years of

A teenager

Feeling for the first time

Learning pain

And the lonliness

Of an elder

Seeing the end of your days

Has not yet entered you

Does it make the pain worse?

They all think you’re

Indestructible

Immortal

invincible

Emotionally impenetrable

Logical, fair, an intellectual at heart

I thought you were

Indestructible

Immortal

invincible

But she told me that you cried

Wept

Mourned

grieved

Without shame

When your children turned away

Because they thought you were

Indestructible

Immortal

Invincible

You lost your

Money

Job

Wife

Your

Children

Home

Future

Your life

All was gone

Save for me

I stayed and listened to

Her stories

Her whispers

Her secrets

Listened about the

Pleasant

Impenetrable

warm

Exterior,

Hiding, with a mask

The cold fear bathing your body

We didn’t know you weren’t

Indestructible

Immortal

Invincible

We didn’t know you

Cried

Wept

grieved

We didn’t see past the mask

To the

cold

dizzying

numbing

Fear.

Is the pain worse where you are now?

If I felt it now, as

a child

a teenager

a beginner in life

Would I be strong enough

To hold

My mask

My secrets

My whispers

Would I die?

We thought you were

Indestructible

Immortal

Invincible

It was

Impractical

Impossible

Inconceivable

That father was just

A man

A human

Mortal.