Before Dawn

He was gone before I woke on schooldays—
the kitchen still held the warmth of his coffee,
the door softly closed against the morning cold,
the world unready and him already in it.

Before dawn, before the house had opened,
before a child could claim his name or day,
he was out there earning what we needed,
anonymous and faithful, on his way.

I did not see that sacrifice as sacrifice—
I saw it as the way that life was made—
it is only now I understand the offering
that went uncounted in the dark before the day.
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