Looking at his son across the room He feared to cross that divide But how long could he stay in this dark That allows us all to hide Is there a wrong so great in life That it undoes every good we've ever done Is there an act so good it would undo all our wrongs Every single one? And in putting his whole Life into this gesture Would failing make it Any lesser? Then through the window he thought he saw In the falling snow so near The outline of his son's mother's face But then it disappeared It was only there for a second And a second's not long, but yet It was enough to cause that man To take that very first step And that step was followed by another In that room still lit so dim And before he realized how far he had gone His son was directly in front of him Then the father noticed on the windowsill An old photo that he long ago had seen It was a picture of him and his wife When they were both about nineteen It was leaning against a folder That said "property of the deceased" And underneath was his wife's name And the date it had been released It was obviously her personal possessions That had been given to his son Because since he had left them all behind The child was the only one His son must have always kept it with him For the folder was weathered and torn And he must have gazed at that picture countless times For it was also all tattered and worn Then his son noticed him standing there And from his task looked up And then looked at the picture beside him And that one look, was enough He recognized it was his father That was now standing there And gave him a smile of pure love and forgiveness And of the past, he did not care He did not care where he had been The whys, the wheres, the hows He only cared that his father was there Standing by him now Then the father turned and walked across the room Which by now had lost its distance And went to the nearest incubator And picked up a trembling infant And with the child within his arms He returned to his son And all the pain within his soul At that moment was undone And he sat in the rocking chair beside him With the life he had retrieved And side-by-side together They rocked all through that christmas eve