His mom would leave home just before dawn,
and dad would drop him to school.
He would walk  back to an empty home everyday
and everyday he would shoot some hoops with friends, eat his snack and finish his homework
He would hardly know when mom came home from work
dad was the parent he saw.

Then one day dad needed a surgery
to help his ailing liver,
dad went away to the hospital,
while he shunted from relatives’ houses who would roll their  eyes as soon as his mother would drop him to neighbors who would take him in reluctantly

Now his friends shun him,
as they think he is a pile-on
He has nothing to give
except the sound of his basketball hitting the ground and a resolution
that this is just the dark of dawn
and very soon light will brighten his world  too.