I know this post is supposed to be about love of some kind so I hope you all don't mind me stretching a little to shout-out my dad real quick. He's done a lot for a sista, especially lately so this is where I'm at right now. Peace




The Time of the Father

Messages follow like afternoon shadows
late but leaning on me
reminding me it is so
my father did not leave words
but blueprints
he'd say the writing on the wall
I call it inference
how was I to take heavy hands moving from strong shoulders
boulders bewildering me
turn off that TV
do something productive
like writing a poem, reading a lesson, throwing a ball, sharing a word
making music, listening to elders, watching liquid sunshine spill across fenders
tease to-be kings, pick up clothes, save a life, maybe my own?

how was I to take actions that spoke louder
than words rarely spoken
he wanted his girlchildren to see
the sound of a man doing much for many
booms quietly in a house
as loud as ours
when I wanted the luxury of everything laid out for me
female and unfree
thinking I was owed something
how was I to take a man African as me
still marching towards freedom?

many times I missed a step
distracted by peddlers of Want and Need
and everything in between
But your path was not lost to me, father
the road you took to get to this place
weeping trees haunting you on either side
still moaning the blood of your own
it is not lost on me

How many times you must have fought
unnwanted and wary
to be unbroken
to keep your spirits high
to keep your spirit (Don't let it die, don't let it die, don't let it die)

You must have envied the fathers of boys
who'd speak with pride
while girls are messy
costly and sometimes even unkind
Yet you held that inside
counted us your jewels
stored energy, concentrated, warm
waiting on sun to be reborn

Bright as we be, something must have been right
the reach of love, the arm of light
some safe space, a comforting quiet
the books you left everywhere like
clues to a treasure hunt
the laws you lived by
truer than any words
you left those for me to try
so I thank you for safe space
thank you for quiet
thank you for the belt
thank you for leaving us be
thank you for never leaving us
thank you for leaving room
for flowers to bloom