This is the benediction
I was never given the opportunity
to offer, the blessing of a child
for his parents, those who are woven
into his genes, those that cannot
be denied, those without whom
there could be no thought of benediction.
I bless the mother who carried me
and handed me to the adoption agency
fearing she could not offer me
the life she believed I needed.
I bless the father who never
knew I might exist, a moment
of pleasure if not passion,
a moment willingly forgetting
his wife at home or the other
nights in other cities and
the other children he
would never know, leaving
only his genetic fingerprints
that would lead me to him.
This is the blessing for my
parents, dead before I could
put names and faces to them
but parents I mourn nonetheless.