A mother's why?

Sadness fills my evening
a friend is in severe pain
telling me about her son
who is her only one.
So high hopes she had
but she was both father
and mother to the lad -
the dad so into his own
just similar to his offspring
again - a dance of anger
threesome tangled rings.
The son brilliantly bright
could do anything - yet
failed to live up to his own.
Sadness has invaded his mom
she cannot reach him
bailing him out almost always
and the kid smart as he is
if not one - then he taps
his father for needed dole.
He is working, living,
drinking, and whatever.
He lost his driver's license,
he lost his car, his old friends
threw him out -
living with new friends
until .... whenever.
Is he self-medicating?
Who knows - does anyone
realize what's going on
inside a human soul?
Is it just a sordid role
he is playing to get back
at the people who loves him most?
Is he depressed - can he boast
of waddling in self-pity
or doesn't he care to use that mind
he once so brilliantly had?
He cuts his mom off for months
and only when he needs money
or shelter he will appear.
This mother refuses to give up -
is trying to get a grasp of why?
She does not want to see him
in prison or worse - on the streets.
How can she reach him, she asks?
I really don't know - there are
several ways - some will work
for some - others will work for others
I tried to listen and give my 5 cents,
alas, my 5 were not satisfying enough
neither to the giver nor to the seeker.
Wishing I could have been more helpful,
what a sad waste of a wonder
an unreachable enclosed child
a sleeping beauty - never to wake
before it may be way too late, - yet -
his mother's heart is about to break.