On Plucking the Bitter Fruit

They asked me to describe 
what it is that
I am feeling right now:

The disappointment of a son
and the alienation of a man
the bitterness of hopes
and the sweetness of vindication
the smallness of petty disagreements
and the enormity of loss
even if it is just the losing of you

I buried you yesterday
and I accepted your mantle
but I refuse this myth-making
this farce of false memories

You left us yesterday
but I left you long ago.