Happy Father's Day


A poem I wrote for my Dad:

He who raised a man

 out of a daughter.

You—

 Father as forge,

 Father as flame.

 I wore battle armor

 not made of iron,

 but of your knowing.

 Your warnings were the map.

 Your voice—compass.

 Your silence—shield.

The jungle path was cruel,

 but thorns parted.

 Leeches recoiled.

 The snakes uncoiled.

 The poison never touched my lips.

 Because you saw it first.

 Because you stood between.

The world says

gods are myths.

 They never met

 the man who held up the sky

 like Atlas,

 his back trembling,

 but never bending

 for me.

You were Sisyphus,

 pushing that stone

 up the hill of my future,

 knowing it would fall—

 letting it crush you

 before it ever grazed me.

They heard me,

 but they never listened.

 You did.

In your affection

 I found my sword.

 In your silence,

 my shield.

You raised not a girl,

 but a warrior

 who walks without fear—

 because you loved without fail.

From the bottom of my heart

 to the depths of my soul,

 from the beginning of time

 to the end of the world:


 

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