His Father’s Coat
Yuzhno Sakhalin, Eastern Russia. 7 July 2005
In Sakhalin Russia, just thinking about the way things are done here, the hangovers from the past, the apathy, the desire in some to return to the old ways. How some are trying to modernise, but get stumped by officialdom and outdated regulations. It’s like the son of communism, now his father is dead , wants to be a world leader, to play with the big boys but is being hampered by adherence to old values and methods from his dead fathers day, a time now dead. Its like he is wearing his fathers old coat but that coat does not fit him, it is past its time.
The young man rises from the floor
Draped in his fathers coat
It’s over large threadbare and worn
Hands lost in too long sleeves
It’s hem lies untidy, heaped upon the ground
He reaches out toward the door
And takes a faltering step
The heavy folds encumber more
He steps upon the hem
And down he falls, into to the dust again
His father was a very big man
With a booming voice
Hands on hip he’d proudly stand
Broad and tall and strong
Wearing the great black coat, as he only can
But one day when he turned his back
He didn’t hear a sound
Knocked down completely flat
Dead by the concrete wall
Built with others blood, and raised by his own hand
He broke his neck upon the ground
The hard unyielding ice
The man himself was not found
Just his coat discarded
Left to son and heir, a legacy of his rule
The son he is a lean young man
With the strength of youth
He wants the promise of new plans
Wants firm footed steps
To reach for all rewards, that should be in his hand
Grasping again for freedom’s door
The coat’s too big too long
He once more ends up upon the floor
He knows it not nor cannot tell
It’s his father’s coat, that from his grasp withheld
How he came to have it on
He does not really know
Nor how upon the floor he falls
His frustrated apathy grows.
Though he tries and tries again, he cannot reach the goal
He had times thought to take it off
To leave it where was found
But that seemed to be such a loss
It’s so familiar and warm.
For after all is said and done, it is his fathers coat