The Boy Who Dreamed of Me
You were the boy who dreamed of me,
who promised not to raise me
as your father raised you. You grew
into the man who survived a small town,
the man who loved many women
before my mother. When I was a child
you gave me my life then saved it,
cooled my fevered body, threatened
to hit me but never did. Father,
you are the chip I carry to make my back strong,
the man who knows the power of silence,
the man who taught me to keep to myself,
to never rely on others, to harness loneliness
like a plow and make something out of hard ground.