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~ Elizabeth Jennings
I do not understand this child
Though we have lived together now
In the same house for years. I know
Nothing of him, so try to build
Up a relationship from how
He was when small. Yet have I killed
In the above stanza, the poet shares his feelings about his relationship
with his son. He says that although they both had lived together in the
same house for many years, yet he doesn’t understand him. He doesn’t
know anything about his son, his likes and dislikes. He tried to build up
a relationship with him from the time he was vain and small. His son has
changed as he has grown up. Insurable
The father uses ‘I’ in the first line to acknowledge his role in the
communication gap between them. He says that despite all efforts, his
son was in another place that the father cannot access. They used to talk
to each other like strangers and there was no sign of understanding
between them. His child used to look like him and yet he didn’t know
what his son loved.
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There is silence between them. As a child, he was a prodigal son and
now his father wanted him to return to his house, the one he knew. He
didn’t want his son to move around and make his own world.He was
ready to forgive him and let go of the sorrows he had inside because of
him, because of the distance between them. He wanted to love him
again.
The son speaks for the first time and explains what he feels. He also feels
sad about the distance between them. He shares that he is at a point
where he doesn’t understand himself. His anger arises out of his
sadness. It is quite clear that on both sides lies the same frustration
about the gap in their relationship. They both want to forgive each other
and yet they cannot find a solution to the problem. Both of them put out
an empty hand for the other to seek, always in vain.