a question walks into my bedroom: what advice would you give to your daughter about life—about love.

i sit with it for a long time.
i had other lives, once.
i don’t hold much in my hands, now.

there are scars. they are old.

i do know this.

you can tell a lot about a man by the things he promises in the dark.

what he remembers in the light, is what you really need to know.

i don’t have a daughter, gave birth to a boy.

my hands are shaping a man.

at breakfast i tell him what i know, anyway.

— what i learnt on a dark road.

© Liezel Graham 2020.

Image by Oana Hodirnau.
Unsplash.