IBM Kid

He put on a tie in the wreckage of grief,
IBM badge, pressed shirt, disbelief.
October took my mama, but he didn’t let us fall,
Said, “I’ll keep these kids, I’ll carry it all.”


Utah highways, boxes on the floor,
Starting over hungry, building something more.
I watched him trade Harley wind for factory light,
So three small hearts could sleep at night.


I’m an IBM kid in a secondhand coat,
Raised on time clocks and the notes Daddy wrote.
“Work hard, be kind, keep your word, stay true,”
He was learning how to live, I was learning how to, too.
From punch-card days to Montana ridges,
We built our lives like careful bridges.


He came home tired with the day in his bones,
Then fixed our cars and mended our homes.
He never called it sacrifice, never said “poor me,”
Just poured another cup of coffee, kissed our foreheads tenderly.


I thought that’s how all dads were built,
But now I see the steel beneath the silt.
Every patient that I fight for still,
Is an IBM kid cashing in his will.


I’m an IBM kid with a healer’s hands,
Carrying out my father’s plans.
He clocked in so I could break free—
Now I punch in for humanity.

Open lyric document