My poor container
Of love was
Too small for this day
Tag: Fathers and Daughters
They’re Only Small A While
They’re only small a while, and then
They’re tall enough to see —
One day soon, they’ve outgrown us: but,
That’s how it’s meant to be
I still now can remember her
Who for a boost would plea —
But she walks by in silence, now;
She has no use
For me
To share is human:
2015-09-29
(This is what has been happening in my house the last two days. – Owen)
So, yesterday, she went to get her stuff;
He’s there, but still won’t say exactly why
Her outcast love’s been left to starve and die
Nor why all that she’s given’s not enough
To merit explanation from the one
Who said that we would love her all his life;
Who took her, one glad day, to be his wife.
Her night is full of tears, and now, the sun
Will find her waking, yearning for a touch:
Wond’ring how love
So good
Could hurt
So much
To share is human:
Tonight’s Truth
Her husband left her, telling her that he
Just couldn’t go on anymore this way;
And so, in shock, still reeling from it, she
And our grandson are with us for a stay
And she – she cannot look me in the eyes,
Afraid that she will break completely down;
And when this fact I did at once surmise,
I backed away – but I am still around –
She fears to let the tears completely go
With her young son so very, very small;
And she her full attention turns to him,
To try to make some sense out of it all
My daughter, oh, I’d rip out my own heart
To ease the pain that’s just about
To start
To share is human:
On My Daughter’s Wedding Day (4)
Sometimes I write about actual events and people I know; sometimes I write fiction. The poems in this series are about actual family events.
Part IV – A Toast
Hold fast, no matter what else you may do
To what you know is right, and to each other:
And may this day bestow new lives to you,
The lives of husband, wife – (father or mother?)
Let mutual respect provide the floor
Let love be walls your true hopes to contain;
Let openness between you be a door
Let kindness be a roof to block the rain
May love be patient, as it always should
Do not compete – you are on the same team –
Do each no harm, and where you can, do good:
Together, help to reach what each can dream.
Never forget the vows you made this day.
Always recall, all power’s from Above –
And that a marriage only finds its way
By honor,
Truth,
And faith
And hope
And love
To share is human:
On My Daughter’s Wedding Day (3)
Sometimes I write about actual events and people I know; sometimes I write fiction. The poems in this series are about actual family events.
Part III
My wife was helping our daughter
Move into a new house
A neighborhood man walked by
Who introduced himself
And offered to help
And now
Fifteen months later
He stands ready to watch her walk down an aisle
He, too, a brave soldier
Soon to be in the same Afghanistan
A man whose father and mother traveled from India
To the Caribbean island where their first son was born
To Brooklyn where he was raised
And he, so full of life and purpose
A joy-spreader, a friend to all he meets
So full of love for my stepdaughter
And she for him
And when the organ music starts playing
It is me playing it
As her actual father walks her in
And for the first time in my life
I am crying at a wedding
Really, really crying
For
So
Many
Reasons
To share is human:
On My Daughter’s Wedding Day (2)
Sometimes I write about actual events and people I know; sometimes I write fiction. The poems in this series are about actual family events.
Part II
Where does one go
When everything one loved is lost?
Where does one find strength
When chaos and pain and death sets in?
How young is too young
To know that everything and
Everyone we love
Can be ripped away
Forever?
For her –
Too young
But somehow
Through sorrow that poured down
Day and night like
A long monsoon
She kept going
Finally leaving the house
Of their memories
The pictures
The shoes
The clothes
That once belonged to men
Never again to walk this earth
And she walks the busy floors of work
And the silent halls of a soon-to-be-empty house
Knowing only this truth, this moment
But full, somehow
Of belief
That there is light
Somewhere to be found
And that she is still headed towards it
And that no ending to any life
Negates that life’s
Significance
