To Make up for Lost Years

In red and white
Dress uniform clean
He sat and stared

His daughter sat opposite
In smiling wonderment
Both nervous each in his way

Some eleven years had passed
Since last they had contact
She but a child of eight or nine then

The barrier in the visiting room
Of the sterile prison
Symbol of their desperate separation

Now they look at each other
Tentative, self-conscious
I the go-between, not really needed

They talked, shared mostly
Her growing up
Her current situation

There were pictures
They held each other close
The ice was definitely broken

I left them to share
A little time with each other
So little time with each other

To make up for lost years


To Make up for Lost Years (c) 2002 Quentin Clingerman

Author's note: I very recently was the go-between in assisting a young woman in becoming reconciled to her father in prison. Her mother had seen to it that they had no contact since she was a girl of eight or nine years of age. Now at age twenty she wanted to get reacquainted with the father she barely knew.