He's frozen in that moment, caught between a desperate, uncontrollable desire to sink into her arms and the knowledge that he never, ever can. Ever again. He sucks in a breath and pulls away- or tries to, at least- the misery and fear spilling out in angry, pleading rhyme:

  He was weak!
   Not hot or cold
  Tepid
  Useless
  Uncontrolled

  He tried--
   He tried!
  to stem the tide
  but the darkness
  it was there inside

  Pigeonholed and unconsoled
  he crushed himself into your mold
  sought out the truth you left untold
  and when he found it--
         hate took hold.

  I burned him out-- connection severed
  that part of me is gone forever
  but while you hold him in your heart
  your love for him tears me apart--

  What sin must I commit to prove it?
  What evil must I choose to lose it?

  I beg you, mother- cut the tie
    Let your tortured child die