For the first time in a long time
I thought of you today
the second of my two fathers
there is so much I want to say –

you were the first man to believe in me
not because you wanted something back,
you stood by me when no one else did
even if it made you different from the pack

Even when you’d be ostracized,
set aside, and ignored
you stood by me no matter what,
even when there was no reward

And when I left, it was so sudden
I never really said good-bye
I always thought I’d see you again
I never thought that you’d die

The wind rustled the leaves outside
the day you breathed your last
though I was a thousand miles away from  you
it was your whisper of the past

of the days we danced to Broadway songs,
tuning that shortwave radio
to listen to a recipe about cookies
even when there was barely any audio

but we laughed through the static
we laughed with real smiles
you gave me my first real hug
you made so many things worthwhile

like that bond between stepfather and daughter
even if it came just a bit late,
but you arrived just in time
before bitterness would have turned to hate

I don’t really know why
I thought of you today,
but it was time that I did
for there was so much I wanted to say.