Dad

03/11/2020 - Poem a Day Compilation



Dad, can’t you help me?

I’m so cold.

I feel so all alone here,

And I just want you

To be here.



I can hear the traffic nearby

But those people can’t see me;

I have no voice left, Dad,

I don’t know how you’ll

Find me.



.There are no lights down here,

Just walls

All around me, Dad,

Blocking me from the world

And overshadowing any hope.



There’s a pain radiating through me

I can’t breathe;

I wonder what I did wrong –

Whatever it is, Dad,

I’m sorry.



I can’t help who I am, Dad,

Who I was born to be,

Do you think

I’d choose this

With all I’ve had to face?



I’ve turned my back on the insults,

Walked away from the names,

But the hate still found me, Dad –

Tortured me –

Broke me.



I can’t move from this spot

I didn’t think

It would end like this

I’m not ready to go yet

Can’t you come get me now, Dad?



The darkness in people’s heart

Is spilling out into the streets

And now I lie in the midst of it, Dad,

Drowning

In the bigotry they’ve learned.



Why am I paying the price

For the fear,

And anger in others?

What did I do to them, Dad,

That they feel so justified?



My shirt is soaked through –

Tell mum I’m sorry,

It’s the one she bought

For Christmas,

But it’s torn now, Dad.



Tell her

It’s ok,

Don’t mend it –

I won’t need it, Dad,

Not anymore.



I know you didn’t like it

When I was out

At a club;

It should have been safe,

I promise, Dad.



You worried, Dad,

And I should have

Listened

But I didn’t think

It would be me.



I wasn’t a headline

In the paper,

I was safe

And good,

Dad, please.



I want to go back

To when I was young

And you held me in your arms,

Telling me you’d always protect me

But where are you now, Dad?



I’m so tired.

My eyes won’t stay open

And, Dad,

Even when I manage to

The world is out of focus.



Can you help me?

Dad, I need you

I don’t want to be alone

It wasn’t supposed

To be this way.



There’s nothing left

To do

To say

To feel

Dad



Please

Can you

Find me

Take me home

Dad?



Dad?

It’s ok

I’m sorry

I can’t …

Last Words

20/07/2020 -  Poem a Day Compilation



The taste of death is upon my lips. I feel something that is not of this earth.

- Mozart (1756-1791)

I am alone with my thoughts

And they are not good

As I await the emptiness

That death brings.



I straddle the void

Between living and dying,

Not knowing how my passing

Will affect those I leave behind.



What words might bring them comfort

As I slip away into nothingness?

My body but an empty shell,

No longer yearning for one more day.



Are there any words?

Maybe it will be a look, a gesture,

That stays with them

Long after I shuffle off this mortal coil.



Perhaps these will be my final words,

Written and not uttered by these lips

That have kissed too few times

And spoken in haste too many.



I hear them on the stairs,

My children now grown so big.

I must think of something witty to say

Lest they find me wanting of a quicker tongue.



I hope they cannot feel this pain

Of wanting to say so much

But not having the words to speak

Though I fear I betray myself.



No words are coming,

No repartee to delight their ears.

Just a vacant stare from behind dull eyes

Though I long to see them one more time.



I am alone with my thoughts

Of love and happy memories

That spill from my eyes involuntarily

As if to say goodbye.