Here’s to the father
who did his best for his daughter to feel secured,
who shielded her from the bad guys in her night terrors,
who worked hard everyday,
only to get shouted at for ‘excessively' asking
about the man in her life.
Here’s to the mother
who cooked the food her son loved,
who did the laundry every Wednesday,
who guided the steps he made,
who loved without asking for anything but to love her back,
only to get shut off of his life because he says,
“You care too much. I’m a man now!”
Here’s to the lady
who cries herself to sleep
for feeling guilty of what she did.
Here’s to you
who want her father to feel loved
but timid to speak the words
and to show him the truth,
so you yelled at him instead.
Here’s to the man
who stops his car to calm himself
who thinks of coming back to his mother
and tell her, “I’m a man now, but every man needs a woman, and it’s you my mom.”
Here’s to all the parents in the world
who freed and comforted us from the fiends
of our nightmare,
of our youth,
of our life.
Here’s to the young ones (or even not)
who think they are better off alone,
who think they are old enough to be on their own.
Here’s to all of us
who have been wronged.
(pendingletters // jl)