I know,
Through the veils and wails of yesterday,
A certain truth.
That in the end,
Even if I leave this place surrounded by a crowd,
I will walk away alone.
Not burdened by the weight of painful diatribe,
Or solemn oaths broken by uncertainty,
Or the windless flight of angels helplessly tethered to the ground.
No, I will walk away alone.
Perhaps, though, the winds that carry me will be of a certain heart,
The one who’s placed her hand upon my chest,
Who has gazed lovingly beyond the curtain I place before my eyes.
Maybe, as a stroke of fate, or luck, or of a story written by the Divine,
A man so blessed as me,
Will know the wind of love that lifts me off the my earthen home.
I shall fly away alone,
My wings born from those I love and have left behind,
Those I’ve seen born into this world,
Who have turned a mere boy into a man,
Who gave him pause to find himself,
And the strength to carry on beyond the wounds he thought he owned.
They may forget me, but I will be unforgotten,
I will exist in their tears and in their laughs,
In their challenges and in the their triumphs.
When their own wings are born they will remember me again,
And they will pay homage to me not just when they fall,
But when they stand again,
And when it is their turn to fly,
When they touch love’s sky for the first time,
I will be there waiting.
I am but a man, anonymous to most but well-known to the gods who gave me life.
Born a liver and a lover, a sinner and a saint,
Perfect in my flaws and built to rise above my ashes.
Yet I am nothing without a certain truth.
One recited in the chills I find when she touches those parts of me built to touch her back.
One shouted to the heavens when my children call my name,
The name only they are free to call me.
“Dad”.
When all is said and done,
When my wings take me to a place I am not yet certain does exist,
I can only hope I’ve given more than I’ve received,
That my best was good enough to see me pass through the eye of a needle,
And that those who give me the wind to fly away,
Know they are
My certain truth.
~TG