Soft Enough To Bleed

Part 3: The Men That Made Me

The Men That Made Me...

(a letter to my father and the echoes of every father figure)

....

Dad,

You weren't carved from perfection.

You were chiseled by circumstance.

Not a man of marble,

But of mud and miracle,

Of flaws stitched into flesh like stubborn thread

And still-

You stood.

You showed up in shadows and silence,

Sometimes late,

Sometimes limping,

But always carrying the kind of love

That didn't need fanfare to be felt.

And I there I learned;

Consistency doesn't always come on time,

But God, it still comes.

I stand proud and say,

My father wore his battles in your bones,

And still lifted me like I was weightless.

I saw him-

Weighed down by doubts and disappointments,

Still calling me "Princess" like I wasn't covered in the memories of my mess.

He held his ground like a prayer on its knees-

Bruised, breathless, but still... believing.

Dad, you didn't always have the right words,

But you gave me presence,

And I learned early that love

Isn't always loud-

Sometimes it's just not letting go.

Your hands weren't always gentle,

But they built shelter.

Your voice wasn't poetic,

But it taught me resilience.

You weren't perfect,

But in your imperfection,

You gave me the strength to bleed and still believe.

And to the other men-

The ones who patched what wasn't theirs to fix,

Who fathered me in fragments-

You are the echo in this letter.

A chorus of care

From men who showed up,

In ways biology never required.

This poem is not polished.

It's patched.

It's sewn with the string of second chances,

And the sound of footsteps I never get tired of hearing.

Your princesses do not dream of a man flawless,

They dream of men like you-

Who stay.

Who break, and came back better.

Who will prove to them that masculinity isn't might,

But mercy.

And because of you,

I look at my reflection.

At the fierce fire in my eyes,

The fight in my fists,

The faith in my footsteps.

I remember;

The men who made me

Were never gods,

They were just good enough to stay.