Night Check (1997)
He came in every night.
Sometimes I was awake but
I’d always pretend to be asleep
for some reason.
He’d walk across the room to the window
and look out onto the night blanketed neighbourhood
often for minutes long
Sometimes I’d peek out of my sleepy eyes
And see him standing
Framed by the window and lit by the moon
A sign that my world was being tended
Leaving the window, he’d check on me
and make sure that I was all right and sleeping well
But from a distance, ever close
Never chancing to wake me
And once he saw that all was well within our world
my father would leave me