NIGHT’S INNOCENCE

“I trust you,”
he said,
the last time I saw him.
“I know you’ll do the right thing.”

“I believe in you, kid,”
he said, serious
sweet
sincere.
He meant every word,
few as they were.

He’d taken me in
for the subsidy
but I stuck around
because of that sincerity.
We lived in spartan conditions
and he spoke laconically
but said the things
I needed to hear.

He was the closest to a dad
the nearest to a friend.
He was what I had
when I had so little
and he had faith in me.

“I trust you,”
he said, before going to bed
and I robbed him blind.
I wonder if he’d be proud of me
today.