Sons
Favourites
Dad
This is what I was thinking of a bit sadly today
My Dad had favourites
And it wasn’t until the end
That I think he realised
Quite
A
Few
Things
About all of us
Too late perhaps, when you have played favourites
I don’t
Neither does my husband
We only have two sons but we couldn’t lever one higher even if we wanted to
They are just so.
Two by two
Equal in our eyes
Our love
Different in nature
But oh so special in their separate parts
How could this equal better
That not?
Impossible
You enjoy your children all the more because of their differences
Not in spite of them
Dad had three sons
And he played his games
The first his favourite
The other two
Moving up and down in his good graces
Like the share market
They shifted
Lifted
Dropped
Yet to me
All my brothers are amazing men
He had two daughters
My Dad
He tried it with us too
But the thing is
Born so long after everyone else
I never quite belonged anyway
So
I guess I expected – not to be favoured
Yet it makes me sad
Because I don’t know that he ever saw the specialness
In each of us
Instead
In favouring just this or that one
He missed so much
Mum was wise
She knew each of us
Loving equally
It came back to her in large measure
From every quarter
That’s the thing with favour given
It is favour measured
And it leaves a certain arc
The demarcation of which
Sticks
In the craw
Forever
