Father’s Day

Wishing my heartbeat a Happy Father’s Day! Oh how I love him…               

Unconditional

My father, resident here on earth, principled is thy name.

When adversary comes, you have never run

Of your goodness I will always proclaim.

Before inaudible mutiny, curiosity and boys

kidnapped me from the fortress of your hugs – Saturday

was always daddy daughter day,

overflowing with ab defining laughs

blockbusters, and the unencumbered

wisdom that would one day liberate me

from the confines of worldly comparisons

you are the dance my feet will never master

the choreography my friends and I will

always want to rehearse,

find comfort in the familiar steps of

consistency, strength, stability and

an unfathomable love.

I have never known a mortal man

embody the etymology of his name

the way you do – Peter

the sturdy rock on which my mother

stacked hope and brick bibles

cemented with love to build

a household solid enough to survive

childhood scarcity, stress and sleepless nights

rocked by grief gales determined to

huff and puff and blow our

house down – we subsist but

some friends and foe did not.

I was ten years old when I discovered

that not all fathers are created equal.

Not every man will drive sons to rugby practice

tens of miles away nor wash preteen daughters

robust kinks in small sinks and speak silent prayers

when mothers are working all day

not all men will love unconditionally

be good role models and exercise chivalry

and even good men will fall short of

the lofty expectations of society

This is not just for the men with

worn soles and bruised knees from

walking and crawling those extra miles

no, this too is also for the fathers

who simply donated DNA

Thank you, to the fathers who

did not try and walked away.

For the fathers who live overseas,

who have multiple wives and other families

I say thank you because every one

of God’s children is a gift

and though we may resemble men in

mannerisms and facial features

we are our earthly father’s children

but we are not their somatic choices.

In a world where patriarchally abandoned children

speak the cruel language of anger and neglect

God will Jericho that pain away if you let him,

flood entrenched alcoves with love

for as an active farther has compassion

for his children, so does the Lord

for those who fear Him.

©Assumpta Ozua 2015