Gabriel is the son of Edward Hirsch and his former wife, Janet.  Adopted after a six year long ordeal of fertility treatments, Gabriel is adopted in New Orleans, the parents returning from the American Academy in Rome to bring him home.  From the beginning, Gabriel is a challenging child, inconsolable despite hours of traveling through Trastevere in a stroller.  The hyperactivity, temper tantrums, uncontrollable outbursts continue through childhood along with countless visits to specialists (psychiatrists, psychologists, neurologists, etc) and multiple school changes and lots and lots of medications, many with undesirable side effects and questionable efficacy.    Gabriel, finally an adult, finds an off beat friend and achieves some social skills and ability but is unable to hold a job or finish school.  He dies at 22 in Jersey City of an overdose, whether a suicide or an accidental death is never determined.  This heartbreaking story is told by Hirsch in a book length poem consisting entirely of three line stanzas in free verse.  Beautiful and tragic, it is a work of great love and great skill.