A Better Man

There's an empty chair
At the dinner table;
Nobody has sat there
In a long time

A boy gazes with eager eyes
At the participants willing to fill in that spot,
But, those men are no better
Than the previous owner

He wishes
For a father,
A teacher,
Somebody to play football with,
Hike,
Go camping,
Teach how to pick up girls

His dad is not the man he wishes to be,
His mom is wilting away
Like a withered rose in the wind

With time passing by,
The boy's eagerness fades away
And he stops
Waiting for a miracle

Stops looking
At his friends with hungry eyes
For something beyond his reach,
Something broken, cut
Without any chance of repair

"It's what's best"
He knows those words to be true,
Yet, at night
He dreams without boundaries,
Dreams for something reality would crush

The boy stays strong,
Promises he will never
Abandon his children,
No, he'll be the father,
The man
His dad never was