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I was always told

I had my mother’s eyes

And my father’s voice

But as you held my face in your hands

I feel you truly saw me as I am

For the first time

What was it that you saw?

Did it frighten you?

We are more alike than you realize

Perhaps more than you can forgive

Things have always been this way

A word of kindness, and then, we drink

Until we feel nothing

Until we forget

Your final lesson to me

Was how to numb myself

I’ll no longer live in a manner

That petitions for your approval

I see the path that you have walked

I see where it’s led you

I see what it’s taken

I see what it has taken

Admonishment

Is perhaps the purest form of love

A hardened stoic can impart

Grant me the fortitude to receive it

To meet gracelessness with grace

And absolve us both

‘Cause I’ve searched through my heart

And found nothing but love

And I know that you love me too

And I’m asking myself

Why I’m asking myself

If I’m sober enough for you

There is a tender warmth in you

A heart that yearns to know

And be known

Let it breathe, and repose

And as I honoured myself in parting

I shall honour your parting words

Your parting words

“From now on

You’re on your own

Go forth and prosper

My wayward child

And save us all”