However loud his cry, breaking the silence of a moonlit sky
However dark his skin, referencing his kin
However ill he falls or grows to be tall
I only know that he changed my world when he assigned me this role
I am a man, was a young man, and long ago a boy
But from his tongue, and through his gums
– However nameless and faceless my own “Tata” –
I am, now and forever, his “Papa.”