Fathers Speak Poem by Ragy Sandid

Fleshed from flesh
Blood and bone
I, too, one day
Found myself alone

Decided I won't leave
The world alone
Without someone
I can call my own

Yes, that was me
The man who did the deed
Blind as a man can be
Led one to have one to feed

Yet, there was love when I saw
What I did and knew
That part of me will grow
A seed that will pass through

The earth when I'm long forgotten
Yet forget you I never will
My last thought you were well begotten
Stronger that my version of will

Just to know you grow is peace
I die thinking I did good
And in the world I released
A person branded into Manhood

I may have left or hid
Or hid my feelings in a freezer
Knowing I can't undo what I did
I'd die to see you breathe

I may have opened the door and left
A coward that I maybe
And no excuse if I committed theft
And stole a life to be

But with every step I drag
Feet of memory of those I committed injustice
Never will I one day brag
That that's how the rest of me is
I cannot speak because
I feel the shadier side of you
The one I won't let you expose
So you can be the stronger of the two

I'd like to ask for forgiveness
But if one day a father you'll be
You'll witness this side of grimness
Mixing love's hard and easy

If not, you'll go on believing
That it's not worth it
That there's a future one you're deceiving
And they don't deserve it

But I wish is fleshed like me
From blood and not stone
You'll take in life's mystery
Be better than the father you've known