articulates

dna

you were my father.
a man i barely knew.
a man that spent his
days, at that stupid office.
a man that barely knew my name.

the days that you were home
(mind you that was rare)
i would ask many questions.
but they all came back with
a faint grunt as a reply.

i didn't know much about you.
i didn't know your favourite colour
i didn't know your birthday
i didn't know your full name.

i knew so much about the professional man.
the man with all the money and achievements.
yet so little about the
private one.

i had to go on my mother's
words on a testimonial when
she filed for a degree nisi.

all i knew was that you wanted
that perfect cookie cutter life.
a house
a car
two kids
church on sundays.

but my mother wanted
so much more.
and she never failed to
remind you that you were
not a man because you
couldn't cater to her needs.

i knew i was like you.
after all,we shared the same dna.
but my mother would never
fail to berate and destroy me
with that if i did something wrong.

my mother never really got what she wanted.
or the son she tried to steal from him.

but my dad had
a new wife
two kids
a car
a house,
though maybe not church on sundays

after all, i am my father's son,
because you can't stop dna.