To my daughter Fantine

So.... i have watched each of you sleep,
smelt the perfect bloom
of your sweet Child breath,
thought of myself
as your great protector,
the keeper of precious fragile flames.
i chastise myself as i watch you awaken
into the dawn of your youth,
into the embrace of young adulthood.

i always listen to your stories
over the pounding of the hammer
your voices pure and beautiful
as fine silk,
texture my ears may touch.

As i listen, i know you have suffered,
been staggered by sullen blows of doubt.
i know you have been afraid of something
your mother,
that she might never come crashing
through those walls,
to discover you


In the night, voices do speak to me,
the tiny ones of those of you
who have come to go
and those who are still here
but grown past the child whispers
i aspire to hear.
i answer them
with selfish humble tears in my eyes and sympathy
for what has passed in my breathing,
for they are the protectors
of my imperfections.
i tell myself I have done my job well,
for you need me more now
than ever before
and never as much as i imagined
in the feeble throes
of my attempts at perception.
The far echoes of tiny voices
ring down the spiral canyon of my years.
They speak to me
in the perfect symmetry of Childhood wisdom.
They fairly embrace me to stand.

There are those who say i talk to myself.
They are right, of course,
for you are myself,
the very one i was addressing,
the one i have become.
i may answer a question from a score
of years gone by and by as i watch
my daughter with her dolly
you did prompty name her Molly

i am your father,
that is all i am... complete.
You give me the strength of your pride,
the beautiful revelation
your eyes gaze adoringly at me
they carry me to a place of unconditional devotion,
love without fear, lighting candles
in the dark corners of my soul.

i am made to be free, a man.
You have been
and remain the perfect sentinels of my journey.
If i come to see beyond the shadow,
If i come to walk into and through the fire,
If i come to feel, to love and be loved,
If i father.


To my daddy Bruggio

You make me laugh a lot
You are such a funny dad
you are surely the best daddy
any little girl's ever had.

Do you know how much I love you?
Do you know how much I care?
Will you take me to the store for candy?
Can I walk with you there?

I know one day I'll be big
but you'll still know I care,
Cause I plan on telling you always
and by the way Daddy, I don't care if you're losing your hair


Penned by my hand on the 11th of Mayan, in the year 388 AF.