No Cards This Year

No cards this year huh?

But then again,

I’m not surprised.

Father’s Day looms like an accusing ghost

and to be honest,

I don’t deserve any

cards, gifts, or sweet remembrances.

No praise should ring the halls,

or hails to greatness that is me,

for what greatness resides in a man

who has only mastered the art of absence?

What echoes live within these walls?

Silence, empty and profound.

My children’s laughter, now a distant memory,

the joy that once filled these rooms

now muted, a ghost of its former self.

For all I have come to be is a broken promise,

shards of what was meant to be whole,

scattered on the floor,

each piece reflecting a different failure,

each jagged edge a reminder of my inadequacies.

The mirror offers no solace, only a reflection

of a man worn thin by the weight

of his own shortcomings,

a father in name, but not in heart.

What legacy do I leave?

A trail of forgotten birthdays,

missed milestones, unspoken words

that choke the throat but never find voice.

No cards this year huh?

They are right to forget,

for what honor is there in a father

who only exists in the margins of their lives,

an afterthought, a shadow?

In this quiet moment, as June’s warmth

wraps around me like a lover’s embrace,

I confront the cold truth:

I have failed them.

No praise should ring the halls,

or hails to greatness that is me,

for there is no greatness in a father

who has not been present,

who has not felt the steady rhythm

of his children’s growth.

I am the absence that echoes,

the void that lingers long after

the footsteps have faded.

I am the broken promise,

the dream deferred,

the silent apology that hangs heavy

in the air, too late to mend what’s torn.

So this Father’s Day, let there be silence,

a fitting tribute to the man I’ve become,

a testament to the spaces left unfilled,

the moments lost.

No cards this year huh?

I understand, and I accept it,

for in their absence lies the truth

I’ve been too blind to see.

For all I have come to be is a broken promise,

and that is the weight I must bear,

the truth I must live with,

until I find a way to be more,

to be the father they deserved,

to heal the wounds I’ve inflicted

and become, finally, whole.