The Fork in the Road

 

I can’t find the exact date

 

But a few weeks ago I came to a fork in the road

 

I stopped a man from coming in our house after dark

I went out with the shotgun

And put him on the ground

He told a damn good story

I helped him out

I gave him a drink of water

I drove him to town

 

I took the wrong fork

 

I found out later that night he

had broken in to a house a few years before

and hit a man in the head with a tire iron

while the man was asleep

 

I thought I was doing the right thing

I thought that helping him was right

 

Last night that man shot and killed his girlfriend

 

If I would have waited till he broke in

I could have shot him

And in doing so

I could have saved a 22 year old girl

From being murdered

 

I took the wrong fork

 

No matter what anybody says

I’ll carry the weight of her death

Until the day that I die

 

The night the guy tried to break in

I saw the girl

She was being questioned by the police

When I stopped to tell them that I had taken the guy to town

The girl looked at me

She made eye contact

I felt something there

She wanted to talk to me

I’m sure it was just about her boyfriend

But she needed to say something to me

 

I just keep playing the scene over and over in my head

I just know what she wanted to say to me

She wanted to say

“You’ve killed me”

 

I see her in the glow from the officer’s headlights

I hear the words that she never said

I’ve played it over and over in my head

All last night and all day today.

 

I took the wrong fork

 

I should have waited

I should have shot him

It was obvious that he was a druggy

 

I took the wrong fork

 

My actions

Even though they were done for good

Caused a young girl to die.

 

I know that I really am not responsible

For her death

But her eyes

Will be another set that I carry

For the rest of my life

And those unsaid words

“You’ve killed me”

Will echo in my mind for all time.

 

All I want is to do good

And help people

And even my good deeds

Do harm

 

Tonight I go to bed with a heavy heart

And the unsaid words of a young woman

Cutting trenches in to my soul.