Dad 15/6/25
On this day may your heart be filled
With memories of who was your hero
A man who went through a lot of toil
To make sure we had food and care
Upright, unbending who had your back
A man who grew up in a different era
Sometimes we could never understand him
How his tears never flowed in front of us
Tears of sorrow when his own parent’s past
Never to see him cry, his strength locked
Tight to be shown in a dark room for only
His own ears a pain that was real for him
Private and graceful for not his kids to see
Mastered over years when his parents
Taught him a real man does not cry
This was his way in life, his children
Not to see or share, a stoic man
His children entering a different world to his
A world confused about what is a man
He never worried or wavered in his view
Always straight with opinions
Also a willingness to listen and learn
His knowledge is so deep that will be gone
He left us in good stead for the world
A world travelled by his son
Always interested in where I was
Where I was going to next
My darkness chasing me from one place
To another, a darkness we both shared
Never to discuss as men to break up
A wall we both built and both held fast
After your passing I missed our chats
Missed your knowing things never heard
You blew me away in our last few years
When a road-trip was taken, shared with us
A trip with laughs and joy, a trip we knew
Would be the last, our hearts forever lost
My days here are full of reminders
Reminders how I cannot ask you although
I feel you near, when I turn to ask
You are but an invisible guest watching
I feel my trips home made us bond more
Your smile when we hugged, talked
The missing had stopped from within
Our hearts beating to the same tune
Today I cried, tears of missing
Nostalgic feeling of emptiness
I write this for you my dad on this day
A day like all others, a day of longing