I think I am a good man but...

[tectak]

Hi tom

the 1st stanza had some cliche  at least one that stood out [fall into the fold]
again in the 2nd stanza which begins with [from where i sit]

I think I am a good man but
hands that work don't rest to pray.
Hours pass in sweat and sweet, for me the play on sweet doesn't work, i can see you're going for alliteration but i'm not sure it's worth it.
sweet hope that every day will end;
then home to fall into the fold
of old familiar things.

From where I sit I watch you  not sure [you] adds anything to the line as it's a given
as  saintly sleep puts arms
round both of us;
then gently, I  pick you up
and wrap you in warm blankets
made from softer stuff than me. i like this line, it's thought provoking, makes the reader ask what kind of person it is.

Your mother sits alone
in the kitchen made of mirth
and madness, songs and sadness…
while we, just you and I,
climb up the stairs.
This is how each day should end. i get the impression of grand parents from this stanza which makes me revise my initial take

You will say your prayers
when you are old enough
to speak the unknown words.
I once did, too, when just like you,
I heard my father whisper
in the hiss and drone of night.


I know now that he cried;
for all his love was in his words
and all his words were in my dreams.
That is why, my baby boy,
all my dreams are wrapped
inside a blanket, softer than me.

I think I am a good man
but I have no time for prayer. i like the couplet because it wraps the poem up warmly along with the line above them

Tectak.
2015

Hi billy and thanks as always.
The cliche thing. I think "fall in to the fold" is an example of that paradox, the very rare cliche. I did worry about it but on researching I could not find its use before...anywhere. The "from where I sit" must, however, go....and it will.The sweat and sweet sweet hope is OTT.
Credit edit coming.
Best,tectak