
of the first born
of the first born
of the first born
will always be
my baby.
#BecauseFatherhood #HappyBirthday
Who am I? Father,/
son, friend, writer. Above all,/
I’m a Child of God.
Then I remembered
what I had,
and who,
and arose out of my pity bed,
sprang to the kitchen,
pre-heated the oven
and made cookies
and my traditional
sweet-smelling apple crisp
for my mother.
At 1:26/
a.m., 33 years past,
Itty-Bitty came.
I was IMing my youngest son, and the conversation turned toward what he could do for his mother’s upcoming birthday. I wrote this as a prompt for his music.
Happy Birthday,
IFK.
She was surprised/
when I came./
Unexpectedly/
a blessing in her/
age,/
a comfort, /
one more step/
back/
into her golden-haired/
youth./
Stong I became,/
and protected her/
as she guided me,/
shielding each other/
from life’s awful realities./
She always lifted/
and loved/
and supported/
and guided/
and nurtured/
and believed./
And now that I’m /
gone,/
she still does./
And she will always/
pray/
for me,/
because I/
am her,/
and hers,/
alone.
“Don’t stop believin'”/
means even more now to me/
than it did before.
Is the pain our son/
feels like the pain you felt when/
I left? I’m sorry.
“She left.” That’s all my/
son had to say to unleash/
floodgates of heart pain.