Will Smith’s a famous actor.
I’m a bloke who writes.
Yet both of us grew up with dads
Who changed on certain nights.
You might be wondering why
Will Smith and I share something strange,
though oceans apart and lives quite changed.
Our fathers could light up any room,
yet cast, at times, a gathering gloom.
They could tell a yarn, they could make you grin,
draw people close and pull them in.
Women liked them, mates did too,
and as young boys, we thought they hung the moon.
I see my dad by the river still,
in a fishing boat lying quiet and still.
Grandad nearby, a line in the stream,
one of those days that lives like a dream.
But evenings sometimes brought another tide,
and something shifted deep inside.
Not all at once, not loud, not fast,
more like a shadow being cast.
A different look.
A different tone.
A feeling spreading through the home.
Mum sensed it first.
We always knew.
Children become good weather crews.
A door would close.
A glass would fall.
And suddenly no one spoke at all.
We loved our dad.
That much is true.
But often feared what drink might do.
The funny dad who’d make us laugh,
might disappear by half-past half.
The dad who taught us wrong from right,
could lose his way before the night.
Too much alcohol, year by year,
can cloud the mind and interfere.
The light behind the eyes grows dim,
and it becomes harder to find the real him.
The man we knew seemed lost from view,
while someone stranger wandered through.
Not quite evil, not quite mad,
just not entirely our dad.
My mother bore the heaviest load,
walking that long and winding road.
A gentle soul, both bright and wise,
who carried storms behind her eyes.
Too many families know this scene,
the things that happen in between.
Not broken bones or shouted blame,
but living with the guessing game.
Which dad tonight?
The one we’d trust?
Or drink and anger, fear and fuss?
Will Smith has spoken of it too,
and perhaps that’s why his story rings true.
For boys everywhere have carried the load
of loving a man who walked two roads.
The good dad gave us much to keep.
The other still disturbs our sleep.
By telling these stories, we make it right,
and help more boys step into the light.