I’m Like You
I’ve seen through the years,
This gift of fatherhood,
Played out in
Our relationship,
Our friendship,
Your leadership,
My followership,
My childlike hope that someday I could be like you.
I think it worked.
I think the hope
Met the prayer, which
Met the ears of God, which
Met the hope, which
Met the gift.
I love children the way you do.
I’m generous the way you are.
I laugh with my eyes before the smile hits my mouth, the way you do.
I cherish my wife the way you do, though she sometimes drives me crazy,
I get angry the way you did, after internalizing it for awhile,
I battle my belly the way you always did.
I’m sensitive to people the way you are.
I always end up leading people, no matter what I do to avoid it,
I have the same hairline that you do.
My toes and the skin of my feet share the same fate as yours.
My heart is full when people I love are near me, the way that yours always is.
I tell my family that the greatest gift that they can give me on Father’s Day is to be near me, if they can, the way you always did.
I’m like you, and I’m grateful.
