Men Are Just Boys Talking About the Men Their Fathers Were

"I just wish I would have heard
What he had to say to me
There in the hospital.
But you just think it's him dying
And none of what he says
Has credit because the process
Of dying makes, even those
That know you best, think
It's just fever talk
And none of it's real.
I know stories of friends
Whose fathers said they hid
Money in the garage
Or important papers
Under the bed,
And it's not true.
But he was lucid
When he told me
Everything
And I just credited it to him
Catching his death."