If I ever have a son,
I will insist on him calling me Plan B.
Knowing that if everything else fails,
He can always look to me.
And he will know,
That no matter what,
I will stand by his side,
With my hand on his shoulder,
Tightly holding him in place
And forever grounding him to earth.
I will paint the entire solar system on his hand,
So, he can always find his way back home.
And I will teach him that life will hit hard.
Life will punch you in the face,
Uppercut you in the jaw,
Not wait for you to stand up
Before kicking you in the stomach.
But getting the wind knocked out of you,
Is the only way for your lungs to understand
How much they like breathing.
I will teach my son to not build walls,
Not raise his fist in defiance to opportunity,
But to spread his arms and be ready,
Ready for the pain, the suffering,
All the misery that will fall into his arms,
Leaving blisters and agony on them
But with all that, he will catch beauty.
Beauty of the seasons,
Of leaves falling and twirling in the sunlight,
The beauty in laughter and smiles,
The understanding that all bad serves purpose,
It’s there for us to see the light.
The light that I will shine to him
So, he can always find the right thing to do.
If I ever have a son,
I will make sure that I am there,
When he realizes that superman isn’t coming,
I will make sure he knows,
That he doesn’t have to wear a cape by himself,
That no matter how far he stretches his fingers,
He won’t catch every single problem in his hands.
And that no matter what, I will wait for him to come home,
Having cookies and a raincoat ready for him,
Because there is nothing a cookie can’t solve.
And for those problems that he cannot solve with sweets,
I will put the raincoat on his shoulders and let the rain wash away,
The tears, the sadness and stress,
Leaving only the formations of clouds,
A rainbow and the glistening road to success.
If I ever have a son,
I will tell him what my ancestors taught me,
To be a rainbow in someone else’s cloud,
To shine and smile with all the heart he can muster.
And whenever he will raise his nose up in the air,
I will look at him and tell him clearly:
“I know that look, I know what you are smelling for,
Only smelling the smoke of a burning house,
That you will check and find those that lost their home to save them,
And if not that, you will find the person that caused the flame
And do everything you can to change them.”
I know he will do so anyway,
No matter what I tell him,
And I will only wait with blankets and chocolate.
I will tell him, my son,
“No baby. There are things,
That love, and words won’t heal nor mend,
Believe me I tried.”
But I know he will smile and continue as is,
Having the heart to carry on,
To soak in life to the fullest.
If I ever have a son,
He will be the star in starting over,
The wave in the ocean of life,
The sprinkle of sunshine on someone else’s cake.
If I ever have a son,
He will stand tall and proud,
Knowing that nothing is impossible,
That his mind and his will
Are the tools that he will use to climb
To climb the stumps, the hills and mountains,
He will reach for the skies and jump whenever he can,
Knowing that his story is his own.
If I have a son,
When the land will call to me,
And most will have forgotten my name,
He will place a hand on my shoulder,
Grip it tightly and tell me:
“Don’t worry father. I will always have your back.”