The sky is a graveyard of stars
Each one a scar from forgotten wars
I stare through the cracks in my broken disguise
Afraid of the dark, but more of the lies

An exhumation of my former self
Dug up truths left to rot on the shelf
Buried my heart in a casket of doubt
Now it screams from within, trying to claw its way out

Let the demons soar. Let them rise!
I’ve fed them too long to cut all ties
They circle above like vultures of flame
And whisper my sins while chanting my name

Can’t close my eyes, for it is where,
The devil hides in every stare
He waits in dreams with bloodstained hands
Building kingdoms on sinking sands

The people with the biggest smiles,
Walk the longest, loneliest miles
And I, I wear mine like a mask each day
Hiding the hurt in a world gone gray

Thank you for the silence and storms
For teaching me love through all its warped forms
For every cold shoulder, for each raised voice
You gave me no comfort, but you gave me a choice

I learned how it feels to be small and unseen
To tiptoe through tempers, to swallow a scream
But in all the chaos, one truth grew bright
What not to become and what must be made right

You showed me the damage that careless words do
The weight of a promise that never comes true
But from broken pieces, I’ve built something whole
A vow to protect a much softer soul

My daughter won’t flinch when footsteps draw near
Her heart won’t be sculpted by shame or by fear
She’ll know that love listens, that presence is loud
That strength isn’t anger, and kindness is proud

So thank you for pain, for the scars, and the ache
They taught me the future that I refuse to remake
And though you won’t see it, or maybe you will
I broke the cycle with unshaking will

You taught me, by failing, what fathers must be
In her loving eyes, I’m healing the child in me

When my time comes, the sky won’t part
No trumpet call, no softened heart
No hand will reach from realms above
No welcome steeped in light or love

I’ll close my eyes in shadowed grace
No pearly gates, no angel’s face
Just silence where the faithful tread
A nameless dark, a quiet dread

But you, my girl, you’ll rise one day
On wings that light the narrow way
You’ll leave behind this weary shore,
And step through heaven’s golden door

You’ll find the peace I never earned
The grace I lost, the path I spurned
Your soul will soar where I can’t go
Beyond the veil I’ll never know

And I will ache beyond the grave
A father lost, a heart too brave
Not for death, nor pain, nor hollow,
But for the one place I can’t follow

You’ll feel me in the winds that pass
A whisper through the morning grass
And though I’ll never reach your side,
Know that I still walk with your stride

I watch you bloom, I guard your days
I fold your moments into praise
Your voice, your smile, your fearless run
You are my earth, my moon, my sun

So go, when time at last does call
Climb to light, release it all
And if they ask of who you knew,
Say, “He couldn’t come, but he loved me true”

She wields our daughter like a sword,
A weapon forged in spite and scorn
Not love nor care, but cruel accord,
To leave me lost, alone, and torn

Her words, like ice, cut through my skin,
One day soft, the next a storm
A mind that shifts, a world that spins,
A rage filled heart, now barely warm

She paints me dark in whispered lies,
A villain drawn in crooked lines
Yet when the mirror meets her eyes,
The cracks reflect what she won’t find

Our child’s caught in tides that turn,
A ship adrift on reckless waves
A love that should be bright and firm,
Now tangled in the games she plays

But I stand tall, though winds may howl,
I won’t be bent, I won’t be bowed
For love is not a fleeting vow,
And truth still speaks beyond the shroud

One day, our daughter’s eyes will see,
Through storms and shadows cast so wide
She’ll know the love I gave was free,
Not pawn nor prize, just by her side

I wandered long through endless days,
A heart adrift in misty haze
The world was wide, yet cold and bare,
A silent song hung in the air

Then suddenly, like dawn’s embrace,
A light appeared, a warming grace
Your laughter danced, a melody,
That woke the quiet soul in me

Your touch, as soft as autumn’s breath
Revived the dreams I thought had left
Your eyes, twin stars that brightly shone
Turned empty roads to paths of home

No grand parade, no thunder’s call
Just whispers sweet and footsteps small
A love that bloomed in simple ways
Like sunlight spilling golden rays

Now hand in hand, through time we glide
With open hearts and love as guide
For in your gaze, I’ve come to see
The beauty love has made of me

You were everything I needed
And nothing at once
A continuous reminder
Of an absent life for your sons

Every time I hug my daughter
Is when I needed one from you
Every white lie to keep her sparkle
Is to counteract my childhood of truths

The stars in the sky,
Tombstones of my childhood dreams
Pulling from emptiness,
Faint light that still gleams

Floating amidst a sea of confusion
With no one at the helm
An unguided vessel,
Somehow navigated out of hell

I’d rather live one day as a lion
Than a hundred as a sheep
Surviving my keelhauling through life
Thriving off a pain set so deep

He was the echo of a thunderstorm
The shadow that stretched but took no form
A name whispered in the quiet night
A fleeting flicker, a stolen light

He was everything and nothing at all
A towering ghost, a silent call.
The seat left empty, the door ajar
A distant memory shaped by scars

But what he withheld, I freely give
A love that breathes, a life to live
The hugs he forgot, I hold too tight
The words he silenced, I speak each night

He taught me absence, and in return,
I’ve built a fire where his did not burn
The stories untold, I now create
The gaps he left, I’ll never replicate

For every tear that fell unseen
I give her laughter, calm and keen.
The void he carved, I’ve turned to space
Where love can flourish and find its place

So here’s to my daughter, my endless proof
That love can thrive under any roof
For everything and nothing he’ll be
I give her all he never gave to me

A murderer walks among us
Hidden by the falsities of friendship
Serpents lie awake
Hidden in the garden

I want to swim in the lucidity
Of immortality
As my words resonate
In the ears of unknown times
And imagined places

There has got to be more than this
I'm so sick of self doubt
Nowhere to belong

Can any hell be more real
Than the now?
Wounded by the sultry
Lips of love

Perceptual notions of
Windows to the soul
The romanticization of
Substance abuse and mental disorder
A constant state of revolution

Eternal unrest

Stranded in winter eternal
I've run too far from
The shores of the sun
Escaping the carnage of reality
A pain of your fiery tongue

Too far I've run
Too fast I've become old
An eternity of chasing
Has taken its toll