The main themes in the poem are the significance of the father-son bond and the loss and emptiness caused by its destruction. The speaker remembers so vividly the affectionate morning routine he shared with his father (Lines 1-10) in part because the paternal love and presence embodied in that routine were taken away from him at any early age. Visiting his father in prison only intensifies the boy’s confusion and frustration because a “never ending highway [and] high / Rusty gates” (Lines 13-14) mark the sudden distance and separation between them. His last glimpse at his father through the window of the prison visiting room signals the end of the boy’s happy childhood. The father’s absence and silence during the following 25 years have a profound effect on the speaker: “the little boy in [him] who still awaits his papa’s knock” (Line 29) prompts him to imagine a conversation between them.

If he had a chance while he was still a boy, the speaker would have told his father how much he missed him (Lines 30-31). He would have asked for advice about shaving, sports, and women (Lines 32-37). He would have modeled himself after his father (Lines 38-39). The adult speaker imagines saying all this to his father because now he fully realizes the immensity of the loss, the many ways that a present and loving father can facilitate a boy’s development into a man.