Thank You: A Father’s Day Poem

Thank you for standing by me

watching what I’ve gone through.

I forget sometimes through teary eyes

that you’ve had to go through it too.

The labor and the birth

while that pain was mine.

Your hand was never far away

Your eyes never so wide.

My fear of being a new mother.

The onset of baby blues.

All the while you stayed strong for me

while you were fearful too.

The early days of breastfeeding.

The trials and the tears.

You were always helping with the latch

while I was screaming in your ear.

See sometimes I forget,

as hard as it was on me

You had to watch me in this pain

As you sat there helplessly.

Trying to remember things from antenatal

Taking turns getting up in the night

Feeling the fog of the fourth trimester

In your own given right.

The daily battles I have at home

Which you feel as you walk in the door.

But always with a smile and open arms

Taking the weight off me once more.

You’ve seen me raw and at my limit.

You’ve seen me vulnerable and small.

All the while you’ve remained my rock

And loved me through it all.

You don’t sit on the sidelines

Instead, you sit by my side

While we navigate this together

On this beautiful but bumpy ride.

Even though you say sometimes

You don’t know what you can do.

You’ve done it without even knowing

for being their father and just being you.