My Father Poem by Alfred Ramos

My father told me that he loved me
Just once in his life
And he was drunk when he said it
Did he mean it, I’ll never know
I never got the chance to ask
His death made me both happy and sad
He was an obstinate man
Living on the edge
Where the bad outweighed the good
I did not want to grow up and be like him
Yet I will treasure the lessons I learned
He was prejudice, I learned not to be
He had many vices, I learned to control mine
He was a terrible father; I give my kids lots of love
He was a bad husband; I tried to reverse that role
What good did he do?
Discipline kept me walking a straight line
Hark work showed me the path to success
The best he did was surround me with a cast
Of brothers and sisters who together survived
A tumultuous childhood and became good productive citizens
Love him or hate him, he was my father