Dear Dad

I am a grown man now and I gotta tell ya I wouldn't be here without you.
You have taught me honesty, humility, and honor.
But it didn't happen all at once.
Insecurity and doubt bred Fear, the Devil himself.
We became lovers of torture and starvation.
You were there through it all, humbly loving me, imparting Faith and Hope.

When Momma shot her heart with a .357 I was five.
I wept uncontrollably
night after night after night, and despite my shuddering sobs
you held me tight.
Thank you.

For twenty years I rambled through this land lost and Loveless,
lookin' from horizon to horizon for the Promised Land.
From needles to the Navy and to needles again
the downward spiral I did descend.
I am a survivor and now I know
that happiness
comes from the heart, and mine is gold.

Four Vietnamese boys split my skull
in San Francisco.
Ya know what? Ten stitches later
I forgive them, and I love them.