Good Bad Father Husband

A Poem by Little_bill

prose

Summer evenings sat on the porch, he’d smoke
tell jokes a little out of reach but
she’d laugh he’d smile, steal her a sly wink,
talk baseball, football, crops and the weather,
always the damned weather.

He works hard she knows, an honest man who cares,
proud of his family, he'd stand and fight if need be.
Drive out to meet her when she missed the bus
chased those silly boys from the house if she asked
and there was always enough to eat, new clothes to wear
but once in a while he'd come home drunk and angry with her Mother.

But he never hurt his daughter or her brothers
and never stayed out all night, she loved him,
knew one day she’d marry a man just like him.
A good man, a man just like her Father -

Winter evenings she sits in the kitchen,
thinks about her husband, his jokes make her laugh,
he explains to her the secrets of baseball, football
talks about his work in the city
the damned traffic there and back.

He works hard now she knows,
earning well, lavishing her and the girls with gifts
keeping them in this fine old house in the suburbs.
Respected around town he loves
taking his family to the latest fancy restaurant
showing off his beautiful wife and daughters
and she feels the silent envy of women
who consider themselves above her.

And then she thinks again about her husband,
who once in a while comes home just a little drunk
to beat her and take her as she bites
into a towel so the kids can’t hear her cries.

She runs home to Mother
who reveals scars on her own battered skin-
they hold each other and cry.

And she remembers returning the next day,
back to the house,
back to her children,
back to the Husband who,
in the light is a good man
in the dark is a bad man,
just like her Father.

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