Forgiven, a sonnet by Dan Johnson

Forgiven, a sonnet
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I don’t know how to write down my request
or where it has to go to find my boy.
I hope while drifting up it comes to rest
where he will see, and turn my grief to joy.
Could I rename Fathers Day cards you wrote,
child’s thanks for waffles, dog, and baseball glove,
pretend you left me this as final Note,
so I can find my way back to your love?
Can I pretend you stopped by as you passed,
and said you always knew I lived for you?
And that you told me how you felt at last,
and let me take your pain, as dads would do.
My Note can be ‘I’m grateful for you, son,
I’ll live my life like you until we’re one.’
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The Shakespearean sonnet format is from the Elizabethan era. It has 14 lines,
divided into 3 quatrains and a couplet. Each line is ten syllables, in iambic
pentameter, and rhyme scheme ABAB CDCD EFEF GG.

By Dan Johnson, for my son Dexter Johnson, Feb 2, 2006 – Jan 11, 2022,
killed suddenly by unnecessary 40 mg daily fluoxetine that I never knew he had.

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Mad in America hosts blogs by a diverse group of writers. These posts are designed to serve as a public forum for a discussion—broadly speaking—of psychiatry and its treatments. The opinions expressed are the writers’ own.

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