Poem for My Father

Poem for my Father

It is my blood that wants to be him.

He knocks upon my door at midnight
And bids me walk with him
Through streets with locked doors
Shuttered windows

He speaks to me with silence
Profound

I listen
With the throbbing vessels in my brain.

Sweet legacies of warmth and childhood understanding.

Fearsome heirlooms of abandonment and anger.

A mixing of the oil colors
Swirling together
Across an ever changing canvas.

The spirit of your songs calls loudly
I sing with the music

Sad songs to praise your troubled soul
Glad songs to celebrate my freedom.