I awoke to voices in the kitchen, belonging to mom and dad
They were angry, frustrated, flustered, and sounded sad
“I should have seen it coming. They never liked me,” said he
“Don’t take it personally; they had to do it,” replied she
I laid in bed and finally succumbed to my tears
For I realized that dad had lost his job, my greatest of fears…
I went to school that day with no other thoughts on my mind
For the first time in years, my learning had been sidelined
I spoke to no one for the first few days
And just walked the halls in a gloomy daze
It’s been two years since that dreadful time
But things have been anything but fine
Still unemployed is my 50-year-old father
Us three kids just feel like a bother
Sometimes we drive through streets full of homeless men
And their signs read, “Please help if you can.”
I begin to wonder if we’ll be them one day
Maybe so, if things don’t start going our way
It’s tough for us, but so far we’ve been okay
We just can’t get everything we want with our limited pay
For me, the hardest part of all
Has been seeing my invincible, almighty father fall
One day, he’ll get back on his feet, and we’ll all be fine
But sometimes great measures like this just take too much time