How you’ll describe me to your grandchildren
I like to make you laugh, but worry
that’s not the substance fathers are made of.
Tell them I was funny, then, if you like,
but don’t be afraid to say that I shouted sometimes.
Remember that the times you said I was being mean,
I was tired, or sad, or worried, or afraid.
You are such good, clever, unfathomable children,
but it’s easy to lose sight of that sometimes.
Right now, you think I can repair everything you break
but I might let you down on that score one day.
In fact, tell them what you like about me, I won’t know.
But please give them my love.
Ben Banyard lives and writes in Portishead, near Bristol. His debut pamphlet, Communing, was published by Indigo Dreams in 2016, and a full collection, We Are All Lucky, is due out from the same press in 2018. Ben blogs at https://benbanyard.wordpress.