God Will Save Us All

doesn’t matter if you been

through Hell and back; it was

only Hell on Earth, Daddy it

was just war, Desert Storm;

didn’t have to take it out on us

how could you stoop so low?

 

you left us without the electric

paid, said you had to work late

but you were stashing benjamin’s

underneath the seat and snorting

white lines until the morning light

 

I was only eight years old

when Mama dragged me and

my sister out of bed, four in

the morning, parked at the

county jail; Mama scrapped

all the cash up and bailed your

a*s out; we hardly had a Christmas

I said thank you anyway, left

the stove on and you got angry

 

so forgive me Daddy and I’ll

tell you this, I miss the nights

you came home tipsy, read me

stories of wildebeest creatures

 

and I know you said you loved

me but if you loved me, how

come you beat Mom when she

was six months along? another

mouth to feed; we’re beaten and

bruised blue, another woman’s

perfume on you; it’s far from okay

but maybe someday God will save us all


                            July 12, 2011