What kind of mind lives in memories,
painful and sweet?

To live in the past
with people who have passed,
lonely and alone,
walking in a veil,
only smiling when memories arrive
to lift the veil away, for a time.

It is not good,
but until life brings new, better memories,
these are the happiest I’ve got.

Deep in a hidden place of my mind
A little child resides
Alone and fatherless
Lost in a world that’s dark and cries

Little boy afraid to live
Afraid to die
Dwells in a little corner of my mind

“Cry baby, cry
Mama’s goin’ wipe those tears away
As always
You fatherless child
Come rock in Mama’s arms
Grow to be a man
I’ll take care of you
As always
You fatherless boy”

In the world
A child in a man’s mind
Don’t know how to live
Just waitin’ to die

“Cry baby, cry
You fatherless child”

Deep in a little corner of my mind

Taken from:

“While in the car, my father told me he was going to take my sister and me to New York with him after visiting family in Monroe. He told Mom to get us ready so we could leave early the next morning. I was so excited. When we got home, Mom packed the green cardboard suitcase and prepared food for the road.

That night, I couldn’t sleep. It wasn’t New York that excited me; it was the thought of being with my daddy. The next morning, Katrina and I waited, packed and ready. Every time a car passed or a door slammed, we ran to see if it was him. From morning until night, like puppies waiting at the door, we waited for Leroy to come.

By the end of the day, I realized he wasn’t coming. That night, I cried and cried. Something inside me changed. Until then, he had always been “Daddy,” the man I ran to with excitement. But my heart was broken, and I finally understood what my mother had told me years before: “I'm not going to talk badly about your father; you will have to find out for yourself.”