i wish i could see your grief,
lead them by my own two hands,
then give them a room big enough in
me to fit them and their lingering shadows.

Do you know me?
Do I know you?
What secrets do you embrace?

I have my pleasures,
My little treasures.
I wonder if I am the only one?

They're not to be hidden,
Nor are they forbidden.
They're just mine. My secrets.

For example,
Do you like to dance crazily with music loud?
Do you do art, paint, draw, create?
Do you go for a walk late at night?
Do you sit in your room and contemplate?
Or do you think about who would win, superman or batman?
Do you feel sad? Do you feel happy? Do you have a secret anger that burns you?
Or are people as plain as they look upfront?
What is it that you do that you hold dear, near and out of fear you keep inside?

I wonder. Am I the only one with secrets that no-one knows?
Why do I hold them so close? To make them feel like mine.
What am I afraid of, That if someone knew my secrets, they would no longer be secret?
Why does this make it feel special? If no-one knows about them?
If they were known, it would no longer be enjoyable.
Is it for the lack of judgement that I tell no soul I know?
Or is it to keep it mine and by sharing it, it is no longer mine to share?
Is it my secret and do you have any you want to contribute?
Then it will be our secret.

This is my recovery
I’m not where I want to be
I can’t shake these memories
Of the person I used to be
The scars fade but
They’re the scars that made me
The scars that saved me
Now I’m a little closer to whole
Filling in the holes that I wore through this soul of mine
I’ve been run ragged carrying around all this baggage
It gets too heavy after a while and it’s time to stop and steady myself
Why don’t you just lay it down?
This road keeps going up ahead
There are more ways to move on and one day you will be found
No sense in stopping now
There’s life up ahead
Living one day at a time
I keep filing through the pain in my head
Accepting hardship as a pathway to peace
One day this life will stop and the you you knew will cease to exist
There’ll be nothing left but what you did with all the pain
Take a breath
Take a step
Let someone know
Life will ebb and flow
But we’re better off with you
We’re better off because you kept going
This is my recovery
But it’s not just mine

I kiss you as if to confirm you are here. With me. Not going anywhere.


To confirm your presence.


I kiss you as I kiss your hands, as I rub your hands, massaging them to make sure they are real. In disbelief, perhaps that it is your hand in mine and that I have the pleasure of holding it.


I run my fingers down your back, soft, your arms, sturdy. I clutch a wiry coil of hair, yours, in my fist.


I smooth your face. I kiss your face.


It is soft. It is safe. It is kind. It is right.

A Poem by 1SP

Yours, by the first time I laid eyes on you,
Yours, after all we had been through;
By the time we had first embraced,
I knew that my job was to see it take place...

That big old tree house with two swings beneath
As stars in my skies align each time you breathe;
Just say a prayer and tell me what is a wish of yours,
And I'll never stop until God says I fulfilled my purpose;
Like you're thriving in a true greatness like
Yours, like you walking in the greatest life called
Yours, I'll keep showering you in a lifetime full of fun;
Everything you can possibly need and want,
I will pursue it for you until it's yours.
Yours, all things you dream you can be,
Yours, all things you can mean to me;
For a moment of lifetime to build a memory
Of you being right here with me...

That big old tree house with two swings beneath
As stars in my skies align each time you breathe,
Just say a prayer and tell me what is a wish of yours,
And I'll never stop until God says I fulfilled my purpose;
Like you're thriving in a true greatness like
Yours, like you walking in the greatest life called
Yours, I'll keep showering you in a lifetime full of fun;
Everything you can possibly need and want,
I will pursue it for you until it's yours.

You know I will pursue it until it's yours
Malik, you have a dad you can rely on,
You have a dad to plant your goals on,
Harvest all of yours one after one...

Ⓒ Official 1SP

This poem is featured in the book,'ACT LIKE YOU KNOW II: Extradition x Epigraphs'

https://amzn.to/3QnyDy1

#1sp #official1sp #1sppoems #yours #poemsforkids #fatherandson #parenting #fatherhood #actlikeyouknow #extradition #By #epigraphs

Broken words line these open seams
A bleeding heart rests in the palm of hope
You struggle to keep your hold on the ground
All your stitches are open doors
Ready to take in a lonely soul
At the expense of everything that was yours

We all have something singularly unsayable within. Nothing can or will ever get to it, not even other souls. This is the loneliness we were all born with and this is our only salvation.