This Father’s Day, the dad is not on a pedestal. He’s mid-step, caught in the motion of leaving, watching his son become a man. A dad speaks- hesitant, unfinished, proud. There are five kinds of love here, and none of them are easy. This poem is not to celebrate a dad, but to remember one. Maybe your dad. Maybe the dad you are. Maybe the dad you’ll never quite become.
Oh please,
Be kind,
And remember me.
Many dads before me,
Tears in their eyes,
Have had to leave.
No, they weren’t ready.
Motion frozen, mid-step
Caught unexpected.
The cost, to them
So high
Task incomplete.
But it’s too late.
There is no time.
No going back.
One day,
One day soon,
I’ll be gone.
You’re on your way now
You’ll make it
I should have done more.
From those first steps
To where you stand!
And so much more.
I am proud,
Honoured, yet left behind
Job undone.
Oh please,
Be kind,
And remember me.
I did give
What little
Counsel I had.
Of the path to follow
It’s hard, I know,
To balance
What needs to be done
But always, always
Let go of the hurt.
Good luck,
Work hard, my son
I love you.
-
Nigel’s peripatetic path in life gives him, he believes, a unique perspective on the world around him. He has worked at many occupations over the years from driving a truck, writing welding standards, to being an international salesman,\ accountant and business owner. Brought up in a family that believed that Antigone in the Greek myth was correct to stand up and die for her belief that fairness and truth were more important than the ranting raves of the unthinking mob – his father accepted the consequences of refusing to fire a homosexual in the 1950s – Nigel believes irony is the greatest tool for both encouraging equity and our enjoyment of life. Since irony involves the interplay between emotions, reality and chance, its appreciation can provide meaning to the often inexplicable world in which we live. He said, when interviewed for this summary: “No, we can’t all be heroes, and too often we make the wrong choice, for the wrong reasons – but at least irony can bring peace to us by helping reconcile the warring elements.”
Nigel loves literature – especially books and poems that deal with universal themes such as love, war, and justice – and is now happily retired from the world of business. Ironically, (like countless retirees before him!), he says he has the ambition to be a great writer and is currently writing fiction full-time….
Visit him at https://nigelscotchmer.com/
