your brilliant
mind no longer pulses
with electrical
arcs driving
you towards your
preferred poisons
your restless
soul enveloped in
eternal darkness
a serene dreamless
sleep from which
there is no waking
sixty six years ago
you were pulled
screaming from the
abyss and thrust out
into this hellscape
too clever by far
easily tempted by
the demons lurking
forced into fatherhood
before you ever
truly became a man
you were an
elemental
force of emotions
sodden with drink
to dull their
constant aching
quick witted and
unaware of just how
amazing you were
or all the lessons
you managed to
convey to the eager
mistake you always
tried to protect
twenty years ago
that light went out
and i have lived in
the shadow of your
loss ever since
the dancing flames
of sixty six candles
reflected off the
carton of reds
the case of lite and
the bottle of old spice
i get you every year
sleep well dad
the kids are happy
and your memory
guides me through
the same darkness
you knew intimately
another hero fallen
as the flag hangs
at half mast outside
this derelict home
for fools who miss
the souls that helped
to mold the people
we wish we had become
i love you
sleep tight
don’t let the
bed bugs bite
Mike's Manic Word Depot 
No man was ever “forced” into fatherhood, Mike. There are no mistakes or accidents or unwanted pregnancies. There are simply choices. Maybe they are young choices or uninformed choices, or “traditional” choices but the responsibility a man chooses to take is no different than a boys. Taking away a woman’s right to her own body, is “forced” motherhood. That abortion is considered a “political issue” or a “sin” as ruled by patriarchy, is “force” or “rape” to be clear.
Your poem is good. Your facts or precision or refinement of language need work.
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I see what you are saying, and agree. but this is from the POV of someone that was told they were a mistake and ruined the lives of his parents. the forced carries a different meaning from the traditional, or was intended to at least.
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