Sunday, June 16, 2013

FATHERS' DAY JUNE 16, 2013




Dad‘s Eulogy
I never did sing for my father,
While he could hear,
Nor did I dance for him
That he might see me celebrate
His strength, courage, integrity.

For far too long
Did I imagine him against me,
And so decided
To be against him.

He did not love me
In ways I wanted,
I needed him closer 
To set me straight.

I grew crooked
Without his attention..
Remembering him now though,
Straightens me.

My father never quit a thing,
Complained, or shed a tear
 For himself.
Holes in his socks,
A drunken wife,
Five children and he stayed.

I never honored my father
For pulling the wagon
That was his family,
Dutifully day after thankless day.

My immigrant father,
Peasant farmer,
Cosack survivor,
Who measured men from the neck up..
after 96 years
has finally fallen.

I sit with him in his final hours
With nothing left to say.
He is gone without a word,
to that place i don’t exist,


I place my hand upon his once broad forearm
a single tear rolls down my cheek and suddenly,
 “He’s Awake!”
And startled back to here and now.

“I know you! “ he exclaims,
Smiling and alert,
“Why you’re my number two son, Harvey!”

A leap of heart,
A flood of joy,
An ocean of tears..
All I ever really wanted from my father
Was for him to see me.







FATHERS' DAY PRAYER