Kara Jo

Kara Jo Kara Joy is what we named her Not so very long ago, But as long as I remember I’ve called her Kara Jo Now you could say the acorn Didn’t fall far from the tree, Cause what you get with Kara Jo Is a pretty, female, “me” We share a love for reading And movies, good or bad, And she can spin a story Again, just like her dad No, we’re not carbon copies One look will tell you that, Because she’s young and beautiful I’m getting old and fat She has her way of doing things And doing things her way, And if she thinks that way is right She’s kind of hard to sway Much like her aging father It seems to be the case, “If everyone were more like us It would be a better place” She’d follow me when she was small Trailing close behind, But one dark day, life got real hard, And we lost so much time We went from daily interaction To every now and then, And if I’ve known a greater pain I couldn’t tell you when Sometimes I’d text her in the night To say she made me proud, In those times of darkened silence That were deafeningly loud She got her scars and bruises Most I knew not of, But in my ignorance and absence I did my best to show my love We both walked down some rugged roads That led us from the Lord, But in the end she set the standard For me to strive toward She left her pain and turned to God I stayed beneath its cloud, Sometimes at night she’d send me texts To say I made her proud By faith she did amazing things I remember to this day She prayed for a stranger’s broken-down car He got in and drove away I’ve watched her take some hard life blows And still do the best she can, Unaware that she inspires me To be a better man I turned my blessings into curses And struggled through each day, She turned a “curse” into a blessing And named her Rylie Jae She’s watched me through my failures And saw me when I’d fall, And she always tried in her own way To help me through it all “Pure Delight” is what her name means And it has proven so But until the day I’m no longer here I’ll call her Kara Jo