Dad
Tomorrow Dad
The sixth birthday
Marked only by December flowers
Left to shiver
On your small plot, with tears
You the constant gardener
Who expected little
But gratefully received
One certain style of pipe
Gold Block tobacco
In pleasing golden tin
Slippers with an outdoor sole
A gardening tool
And music music music
Then- was it for your eightieth?-
New system and a headset
Where you could go to dream
I miss you still
My perfect model
How-to-be a dad
Memory not dimmed
But no more rosy than the truth
Just one more thing you've taught me
With physics self-belief and maths
For you and me there's Afterlife
Love still beyond the grave
1st December 2009, Flight Toulouse-Gatwick. I.M George Mc Donald 02/12/1914-22/08/2004
Amen!
ReplyDeleteSally, this poem, for me, has the quality of a still and limpid pool of water, so clear and bright, and so full of love, faith and hope. Thank you very much!
Thank you Jen. This poem did indeed come from the most powerful feeling of love. As the years have passed I seem to feel that more and more clearly. Perhaps because Dad's last years were blighted by Alzheimer's it has taken a while to get back beyond that to the lovely man he was, bless him. I am a very fortunate daughter and feel that increasingly.I wonder do you remember him at all? I know Clare does.
ReplyDeleteSally, he must of been such a wonderful dad, as you are such a wonderful kind person - its the the genes!
ReplyDeleteI keep reading this and I just love the way you have captured your dad and your feelings. It was a long time before getting in touch with the loss of my dad as his daughter and not the loss of the husband of my mum if this makes any sense. I miss mine too and because of our physical seperation in miles and the one created by my Mum I still have sadness that we allowed that to happen. His love of wood lives on in me and when I see it, touch it and smell it it takes me back being alonside him with my wood and tools as he worked with his. The architect in him has passed on genetically to his grandson although his grandson never knew!
ReplyDeleteMy experience is just the same Jude. Only once mum had died could I get back in touch with my loss of dad, rather than hers as his wife. There was if I am honest always a problem with mum coming between dad and I as I always felt she resented our close relationship. This year I have - as I've shared with you= experienced so much more grief about the loss of both my parents.
ReplyDelete