Occasion

I’ve kept these words
at bay for years;
“Occasion” this shall be.

These words are first
for you of course;
I want them breathed from me.

No trumpets sound,
no flags unfurled,
(you know, I guess we could).

Instead, in quiet,
just us four;
I pray you find this… “good”

To hear this truth
from someone else
would surely feel amiss

So though it’s hard
the words now come,
and I must tell you this:

Your dad is gay
has been – lifelong
I know, I’m over fifty

To hear it now
these years gone by
perhaps sounds sort of… shifty?

But trust me now;
the hour is right.
I had to bide my time

First – tell myself,
and then your mom;
it’s been an uphill climb

And now I want
the world to know;
no longer any shame

I live for you
but for me, too,
and no one is to blame.

So there it is;
I’ll tell you more,
as questions you may ask.

Unwrapping all
will come in time;
a self-revealing task.

I fear anger –
rejection’s sting;
the reasons why I hide.

What do you think?
Are you confused?
Do you feel like I’ve lied?

---

That’s your Big News?
The thing you’ve Feared?
Oh dad, you’ve feared for naught

It’s no big deal
we’ve friends now “out”
rejection – not a thought.

Although it’s strange
you married mom
I guess we’ll learn anon

Your story’s yours,
We’ll write with you;
Can you turn WiFi on?

---

Day Twenty-Five

Our prompt for today (optional, as always) is to write an “occasional” poem. What’s that? Well, it’s a poem suited to, or written for, a particular occasion. This past January, lots of people who usually don’t encounter poetry got a dose when Amanda Gorman read a poem at President Biden’s inauguration. And then she followed it up with a poem at the Superbowl (not traditionally an event associated with verse!) The poem you write can be for an occasion in the past or the future, one important to you and your family (a wedding, a birth) or for an occasion in the public eye (the Olympics, perhaps?).