For My Dad On His One Hundredth Birthday
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Of all the people I have known in my life, my father is one of my greatest heros. A man of great integrity and principle, whose wisdom the greater family and community sought after, whose love for me shaped in ways that are remarkable. When dad died from congestive heart failure, I remember sitting by his body and thinking that the torch of wisdom had been passed on to me. I also thought that anyone wishing wisdom from me would be incredibly SOL. One of my cousins expressed to me that my dad said to her, "Bob is my twin." I was moved to tears by that knowledge. I know that I though I can emulate my dad, I can never be exactly like him. The best I can do is take all that my dad modeled for me and do my best to integrate that into the way I live my life.
I feel you hovering around me,
your presence, your spirit,
a feeling, like fingertips
lightly grazing the skin.
Ten years have passed
since you shook off
the coils of this world.
Your presence is not
some ethereal spirit
condemned to haunt a
place of past transgression,
but more that of a father,
connected forever to the
ones that he loves.
I feel you the strongest
when complexities clutter
my life, my mind seeking
communion with yours,
calling out to you as a
frightened child cries out
for comfort in the predawn
hours following a nightmare.
Staring into the bathroom
mirror I search for your
face, in the creases on
my forehead the crows feet
around my eyes, longing
to hear your voice
praying a blessing over me
as you did for me
for so many years
before I would go to bed.
Formed and shaped by
your DNA, yet, as each
snowflake is created
distinctly different and beautiful
by our loving Creator
I realize that I am like you
and so unlike you,
similar yet never quite the same.
Gratitude born long before my birth,
I rejoice in having walked
alongside you for fifty-two years,
a man of great faith, dressed
to the “T’s in integrity and dignity.
Many look upon your image
and call you “iron man”,
one who has been tested
and proven worthy,
one able to bear life’s
great and heavy burdens.
For me, you will always be
“my dad”, devoted to God
and to his family. One who loved
me into existence.
Happy Birthday, Dad.
Copyright © Robert Wagner | Year Posted 2020
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