The Story Left Untold

We watched the movie Antwone Fisher in Film and Culture a couple days ago and I just felt like I wanted to write again. This is going to be based off of my favorite stanza out of a poem Antwone wrote.

"Who will cry for the little boy?
He walked the burning sand
Who will cry for the little boy?
The boy inside the man."

           -Antwone Fisher

What if I told you a story, a story left untold?

A tale so tragic that it should have never been able to unfold.

We start off with a child, a boy no older than three

God's mercy and grace nearly transparent as far as we see.

His parents are not examples they show no sign of character

For his dad is a deadbeat and gone, his mom a walking disaster.

He was bottle-fed beer; a stronger stomach was what they hoped,

His mom was beaten, drugged, held captive, and groped.

Though why no one knew, she stayed and she coped.

She had a heart of gold, and his father abused that kindness

So again and again it became her weakness, a pitch-black blindness.

Fast forward a couple years and now he has a one year old sister

Her dad was shot leaving their mom on her own making her bitter.

They live with their grandparents their mom unfit since the murder.

At surface level fine, but we dig a bit further

We realize that the grandparents have no loving fervor

When it comes to spousal operation it is basically warfare.

His sister is kidnapped, and panic flash through his mind.

His father wants money and almost all humanity has been left completely behind.

She comes back unscathed, everyone shaken by the trauma

Though he stays quiet, for he adopts it as his dogma.

To be seen and not heard when, thinking

He veils himself and builds walls though all done unthinking.

The grandfather an alcoholic and abusive, the grandmother depressed

Our little boy is now eight; a newborn sister has come to rest.

His dad returned if only for a moment, makes no connection with the son

And is soon jailed for years, a complex thought process the boy has begun.

He's a quiet one, introverted by his experiences but caring deeply nonetheless,

Showing off minimal emotion he keeps to himself choosing the road of acquiescence.

Now the stories tempo changes, as we fast forward into his life,

He's seventeen now and a camp experience shines through the strife.

He comes back Spirit filled and his grandparent’s marriage is in complete shambles,

A drunken and provoked rage almost had his grandmother's life become a gamble.

So they moved her out quickly before things got too bad, and the boy moved out on his own.

The boy was now a man, he had gone through a lot to be considered grown.

Off to college to fulfill His calling, he entered the next stage

And we see him press on he writes on the lives of others page by page.

The acquiescent road he chose comes heavily into play, as everyone realizes

That this seemingly together man has troubles internalized.

Piece by piece they begin to discover someone who's walked on burning sand.

Slowly, but surely they discover the boy inside the man.

Slowly, but surely they discover the boy inside the man.