Fathers Shadow

father casts a long shadow

I walked along it 

To find him

found nothing

So built my own

A self constructed

Induced

If it seems fragile

That is because you weren’t

There to see the materials

I started with

All the triumphs and failures

All the things I cannot say

Everything I have loved

Lost, won and stolen

I am strong enough

test me all you want

My greatest battles

Lay ahead and behind me

Masculinity is like 

Being pregnant

Everyone congratulates

The achievement

But no one knows

How often I was fucked 

Before I got there.

So I cast my own shadow

But my children have someone

To run to

And you would be safe

As long as you wanted

Sift the darkness

and see all the stars

Aligned