Ashlie Dickinson

I Believe

No one believed in him.

Night to day, a bottle at his lips

as if it were the air he breathed,

as if it were the only thing that stayed.

 

No one believed in him.

But I did.

When I came along, I thought

he’d set the bottles down,

choose us, choose himself,

and rise into the man he wanted to be.

 

He never got the chance

to prove them wrong.

But I know deep down, I know

he would have fought his way back,

would have clawed toward better days

for the family he dreamed of.

 

All he ever wanted was a daughter.

And when he finally held that dream,

life took him away

before he could become

the girl dad he always meant to be.

 

But I believe in the man he was becoming.

I believe he would’ve gotten sober.

I believe he would’ve been a good father

the kind who stands tall for his own,

even for the ones

who never believed in him,

even for the ones

who speak down on him now

when he can’t speak back.

 

I believe he would’ve stayed.

I believe he would’ve healed.

I believe in him

I always have,

and I always will.