Father’s Day 15/6/25

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