Dad

Wake Up! Wake Up!

A trusting voice taps my shoulder.

It's my dad, my peaceful dad.

Follow me

into the sea of stars, He says

I'm stumbling after

and agreeing

to journey through the dark indigo hallway

half conscious

in raggedy pajamas

leaving behind my trace

of unweaving thread 

pulling seam by seam

for poverty is blinded

to a carefree child.

Talking to the moon

glaring through the smudged, handprinted glass

I follow out the screen door

A lavender blur

So I flick crusted stardust 

from the creases of my eyes

While my dad, my trusting dad

guides me to the top of our dented tin roof

with rock hieroglyphics scratched on the doors

But why?

My dad replies, "It's simple

To lie on our backs and stare at the sky."

Memories trail after

Of siblings floating on fields

gazing at airplanes

While my dad, my wondrous dad

Takes us on journeys filling our innocent minds

with riddles and jokes

Then car rides as the wind blows 

to John Lenon's voice.

And frolicking through grand libraries 

to breathe in the comfort

of elderly books,

feeble in binding

and whispering stories

To sponge-like children.

But when fatigue bubbles up

To heavy eyelids

I'd crawl into my bunk-bed

reeling in nostalgic stories

of my dad's troublesome past.

And then,

My dad, my spiritual dad

He'd say, "Let's pray

to your guardian angel

For I am thankful for you Grace,

because you were our gift from God."

-graceHgutekanst