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you were the one who had the affair...

by steve_laycock 

Posted: 19 February 2006
Word Count: 405
Summary: one of two poems about the Fathers4Justice issue of paternity recognition. This poem is not about me, though i do have two children and a bag of empathy


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Is there a way you could have chosen me?
Looked down through the ether to see me here
Broken but willing
And chosen me to come to and be my son
And daughter,
Together,
My Gemini twins.

Is there some way you could have known that the weight that I carried could be lifted
By your shoulders,
So slight,
So mighty, though, standing as you do with time on your side,
Your lives on your side;
My love, my heart, my mind, my soul,
My eyes, my ears, my hands, my blood,
You are my life, you make me whole,
I bow before you my children, my Gods.


I had a wife,
a child, a home
I had work, I had love, I had life,
I had life.
Maybe I took it all for granted,
I presumed I had to keep
I lived like there was never a chance of us parting;
I guess, if I’m honest,
I fell asleep.

But you were the one who had the affair;
I didn’t have a prayer.
You took my children
Then when I said court
You said this battles best not fought;
For the sake of the kids I stayed hid,
For the sake of my daughter and son
I let the battle be lost and won
Without my ever fighting.

I invaded you,
Because you asked me to;
You took my seed and saw that when it came to war
You got just what you needed.
You told me it was what they wanted.
For love of them I lied,
A father who fights for those he loves is not in the interests of any child.

I lay back for you because I felt guilty,
I succamb to you because you told me
I should do
It was right to
And society
It seems
Agreed with you

But now it’s clear to me:
I gave you that which was most dear to me,
Under duress,
With the law standing by as your witness.

So let’s talk about equality
Let’s talk about child custody

But then:

Not all women are suffragettes
Not all men are chauvinist pricks,
Not all women think in the past,
And not all men think with their dicks.

I guess sometimes we’re all just the same,
All a little lost, all a little broken
Just trying to make a name;
I’ll start looking for someone to love,
Not looking for someone to blame.






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Comments by other Members



Account Closed at 20:41 on 19 February 2006  Report this post
Steve,
I'm not a poet and I know very little about poetry, but I found this honest and direct and incredibly powerful; it's difficult to describe just how much. It's only my opinion, butI think you should make this available to as wide an audience as possible. Very, very moving.
P x

radavies1uk at 15:21 on 24 February 2006  Report this post
Hey Steve

I really get this. Overall it's pretty intense.
I love the line

Under duress,
With the law standing by as your witness.

and the last two paragraphs I think are great.

I think early on however you repeat just a little bit too much and a couple of the ryhmes could be balanced out a little more. (Personal points with me :) It seems like it was a one-draft where you didn't really know where you were going at the start but by the time you got to "I had a wife, " you seem to know exactly what you're getting at :)

Drop me a message if you disagree.

Thanks
Bob


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