Kiss Me Mommy

"I shall be telling this with a sigh" Robert Frost, The Road Less Travelled. I’ve wiped her tears for many years, through pain and heartbreak, too. I’ve held her hands and lent an ear, so tough times she could get through. I’ve read her stories and sung her songs, the best a father can. I know how much her heart has longed for the touch of a woman. Her mother died when she was three; drunk drivers are a curse. She was gone from our lives quite suddenly - our broken hearts could not feel worse. At fifteen years she confessed to me, with tears rolling down her cheeks: “I’ve never forgotten the memory of the last words to her I did speak” “She was walking out of our front door, on her way to see a friend; I said, ‘Mommy please kiss me just once more, in case I never see you again.’ All these years she carried the guilt that she somehow contributed to the fate; And around her emotions a wall was built but the sorrow and pain became too great. “And that’s why Daddy, I never kiss you, when out the door you go every day; And I thought that now it was time you knew why I have been acting this way.” I hugged my daughter and we both did cry, releasing emotions pent up inside; And then I helped her wipe them dry feeling a fatherly pride. “That last kiss you shared with your mother, did not send her to her grave; In fact, I bet she could not have received any other, better last gift than the one you gave.” “So when you talk to her in prayer tonight, let her know that kiss was special for you; She would help unburden you from this fright if it were something that she knew.” by Joe Flach for Constance's "Give me a kiss, Mommy" contest. Written and posted on 10/5/2011