Heart Break Through A Child's Eyes

Dear dad,

 

Your presence was barely around

Making your voice an unfamiliar sound

I wouldn’t be able to tell you apart from a crowd

My eyes sore from looking,

But I’d still admit I had a father out loud

 

I’d be a wreck every single June

Apprising the class that I’d see you very soon

A lie that kept crawling like a spider

On the surface of a web

My friends begging, “What’s going on with her?”

 

Each picture you’re in that exists in our home

Just stays unlike you who had to roam

I think about you and my eyes grow glassy

Shinier than all the trophies you never saw me win

Reminding me that the way you left us was anything but classy

 

And to make things worse no one removed your boots

The yellow ones that revealed your hard-working attributes

They lined up perfectly against the egg shell white wall

Better than that old carpet ever did

A speck of grease permanently splattered, the size rather small

 

Yet it evokes a colossal image of that day

The day mother refuses to talk about because she’d rather not say

But I can’t keep my hurt it in long no more

It’s like fitting an ocean into a bath tub

And I have to apologize because the water glides on tiles and not a shore

 

I hate that you’re gone and I have to pretend it’s not killing me

Because “some people may not understand and they won’t agree—

They won’t see a broken home nor a family destroyed

They’ll say it’s not the country’s problem

For many years he was thought of something to avoid.”

 

We’re taught love is love and not to discriminate between who with

However, my heart was trampled and I was left to wonder if love is a myth

Because how could it be true if they took away the man who gave me life

And for no damn practical reason

Wishing I drew a breath no more so we’d be a family together in the afterlife

 

Please, don’t tell mother I mentioned that horrific day

Where the gentlemen with badges pulled you over—Your tears on display

Explaining that all you wanted when you arrived here was to pave the way

For your children who understand why you’re gone

Through these tiny eyes I will proclaim, “Familia es importante.”  

This poem is about: 
My country

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