to my parents.

i carry you like a phone in my pocket

a weight that i need to balance me

the constant reminder 

that even when alone i exist

you sit careful on my mind

a door that takes me to a thousand safe places

but that i cannot open

yet

lest i never learn to stand

but spend my days inside the surety

of who i am because you know who you are

and how i wish to slide into it

to become a fixture in your permanent world

introduced in the dependent clause

and let you carry the verb alone

but instead i will stand

with my hand on my pocket

to remember that you are there

and walk on

discovering the places where i may stand

and build my own world

i thank you

for the courage.