Debt free

I built a home with vows and hopeful hands,

Two hearts arrived—a girl, then boy so grand.

Laughter filled the rooms, a fleeting dance,

But cracks appeared, and love was left to chance.

Divorce came swift, the youngest barely one,

Child support became my heavy chain undone.

It stripped me bare beneath the glaring sun,

Left pockets empty, pride soaked in the rain.

They grew embarrassed by the man I was,

A father poor in means, though rich in love’s cause.

Visits faded like a long-forgotten song,

Their silence carved a wound, a pain so strong.

I showed up anyway, for every dance,

Her twirling grace beneath the stage light’s glance.

That final night, the fathers called to stand—

I rose, then froze… her stepdad took command.

Devastation hit like winter’s icy blade,

I slipped away, unseen, into the shade.

No more recitals, no more masquerade—

A quiet exit from the dreams we made.

Her wedding came, two times she said “I do,”

I walked her down, his arm on her side too.

I bit my tongue till blood ran bitter-blue,

For her sake only—swallowed all my rue.

Then came my son’s graduation day so bright,

I crossed from Carolina’s sandy sight.

We spoke of time, just one shared day in light—

He chose another path, and closed the night.

That was the break. My heart turned cold as stone,

I raged at her, the mother of my own.

My daughter’s words cut deep, a cruel tone:

“I never needed you. He’s dad alone.”

No calls return, the phone I paid went dark,

My boy has vanished like a fleeting spark.

The love that once burned bright leaves only mark—

A hollow chest where warmth no longer harked.

Yet in the quiet hours, I still recall

Two little faces, laughing, reaching tall.

The girl who danced, the boy who dreamed for all—

Before the world taught them to say goodbye, to fall.

I carry stone where once a father’s fire

Blazed endless for the ones I helped inspire.

The pain remains, but hope has long retired—

A broken man who loved… and learned too late, a pyre.