We didn't know.
The man, without shelter on that cold night.
The man without food and drink.
The man who was nothing but skin and bones.
We didn't know.
We didn't know the father he was.
We didn't see him in his tie on Christmas eve with the glitter in his eye
He saw his daughter walked down the aisle to receive Christ into her soul.
We didn't see the father as he held his weeping daughter and told her everything would be ok.
We didn't see as he told her that God made all things new and led her by hand into the kingdom of paradise.
We didn't see him then.
We didn't see this father in all of his splendor and magnificence.
We didn't see him fulfill all he was meant to be.
We didn't see him as he gave everyday to the job he hated.
As he sacrificed hour after hour, minute after minute without hesitation.
We missed all of it; he knew we would.
We didn't see the tears fall from his eyes at the funeral of his wife.
We didn't see the soul fall from his chest at the funeral of his daughter.
We simply passed him by in silence and hoped that he wouldn't see us as we saw him.
We hid our daughter from his sight, worried that he would hurt them. But he loved more than we ever could.
He saw more than we ever could.
He needed us more than we ever would.
We walked straight by.
His blood ran cold in the deep of the winter night.
His teeth ceased to chatter all together as his muscles grew so stiff they restricted all movement.
He held out his hand to his daughter as she came to receive him.
Oh! how she wept to see her father again.
Oh! how he wept to receive her.
Then she led him to where it all began.
And his wife held him until he was warm again and introduced him to God.

Children often fear when the light goes,
When dark and its prisoners run free.
For those seeking to calm the innocent souls,
The methods number but three.

The first is to give them a light,
This path is one that is sure.
Unless the fuel source runs dry,
When a hell comes no one can endure.

The second is to let them know,
No monsters lie outside of their heads.
A pure yet insanely evil lie,
When the demons emerge from under their beds.

The third may seem evil at first,
But truth can never be wrong.
The monsters are there, you are not safe,
They will torture you all night long.

What I've become is someone else.
The kid inside has been slain.
I held on to false hope that this was a lie,
But now his empty eyes look up to the sky,
And they see nothing.

I'm left to deal with his death,
But the pain is far too much.
His memories are mine,
But his happiness and hopes cold to the touch.
There is nothing left.

I can still feel the warmth on my skin from his sigh,
As he let out his exhale of dreams.
The world crushed his very soul.
The worse part was that he didn't know why.
Neither do I.

I can't keep going on this way,
For he is still too much a part of me.
I can only pray that I die to another,
Before I end this misery.

I grew up with a brother.
I remember too much to desire.
I remember far less than I wish.
And a rock was all it took, I'm not a liar.

You see it was on a hillside,
Swept with the beauty of oak,
On a full Missouri afternoon,
A beauty so real it removed the yoke.

Shoulders were light,
Light was long.
Life was here,
I couldn't do wrong.

And then time passed.
Drugs wearied the mind.
I grew old and tired.
But that afternoon is mine.

And nothing this universe is,
Will ever strip that gift.
All it took was a rock.
To take my soul adrift.