I do not understand this child.
Though we have lived together now
In the same house for years. I know Nothing of him, so try to build
Up a relationship from how
He was when small. Yet have I killed
Explanation: The father says, that he doesn't understand his child though they have lived in the same house together for years. He knows nothing about his child. So, the father tries to build up a relationship with his son from the early years.The father wants to begin from scratch again. The gap between the father and son is highlighted by the words'this child'. The father doesn't even name his son.
The seed I spent or so it where
The land is his and none of mine?
We speak like strangers, there's no sign Of understanding in the air.
This child is built to my design
Yet what he loves I cannot share.
Explanation: The father wonders if he has killed the seed which is his or has sown it where the land belongs to the son and not the father. It means that the father wonders if it all is his mistake or somehow he tried to take his son on a path which the son never wanted to pursue. May be the son was forced and thus he stopped listening to his father. Both of them talk like total strangers and there are no signs of understanding between them. The bond between father and son is a very strong bond traditionally, but in this case the father says that his son resembles him, yet what the son likes, the father dislikes. The father cannot share the loves of his son.
Silence surrounds us. I would have
Him prodigal, returning to
His father's house, the home he knew, Rather than see him make and move
His world. I would forgive him too, Shaping from sorrow a new love.
Explanation: There is no dialogue between the father and the son. Silence surrounds them. The father now becomes somewhat selfish. He wishes that his son would be prodigal and then will return to his father's house, the house he always knew. It means that the father wants his son to give respect to his father's wishes. This would be a much better scenario than to see his son control his world. Now, the tone of the father gets a bit arrogant. He wants the son to ask for forgiveness and the father would forgive him too. So that, a new understanding could be developed from sadness. In this stanza, the father seems to be angry with his son. He displays a self-centered wish to have control over Son.
Father and son, we both must live
On the same globe and the same land,
He speaks: I cannot understand
Myself, why anger grows from grief.
We each put out an empty hand,
Longing for something to forgive.
Explanation: Both the father and son must live on the same globe and the same land. It means that they must have the same thinking and the same level of understanding for each other's thoughts and wishes. The son says, that he cannot understand what the father wants and the father says that he is unable to understand why his anger grows from grief. The father here is frustrated. Still, they both want to reconcile. They put out an empty hand for friendship. They both long for something to forgive. But their hands are empty as they fail to reignite the father-son bond.