Walnuts:  A Story of Father and Son

I remember my father sitting at the kitchen table    
Cracking open walnuts and eating every morsel  
Dad was a good eater, chicken was his favorite    
When he got done with half a chicken  
It looked like a war had taken place on his plate  
Bones gleaned of any meat  
A spectacle to watch    
We always kidded him about it  
The walnuts though I never got  
He drank celery tonic too  
Another non-starter for this cowboy  
   
I never felt like I knew my dad  
He was always a quiet man  
Gentle but firm, pragmatic as the day is long    
I wanted to know him but I wasn't allowed in  
4 years behind enemy lines during WWII    
maybe the cause  
After he passed I found out I wasn't the only one  
to feel his silence    
He was rarely mad  
His favorite expression was  
"God forbid for worse"  
He would say it if we kids ever complained too much  
   
I gave the eulogy at his funeral  
That's what a son does  
I was so honored to be his kid  
Despite the distance between us  
The love was there, my mom also telling me so    
   
I've tried to make peace with walnuts  
I eat them now for health reasons  
I still don't really like them    
For dad's sake though I feel him with every bite    
I buy them already shelled    
Dad had to do the work breaking them open himself    
A decorated war veteran  
It was like rolling off a log