do you hate him sometimes

for looking like the father that didn't want him?
like the lover who left you?
do you rest those burdens on his shoulders too,
let them settle into his skin like silt?

he's only six.
you shouldn't make him carry
your mistakes around in his stomach,
your ruined love letters
burrowing deep between his teeth.

you sing him the songs
you and his father used to dance to,
even though they make him cry. 

he will never stop loving you.
he will never forgive you.