In Commemoration

I remember that time I was about ten,
Chin deep I was scared of the motion,
But he was assuring me I would be ok,
Teaching how to swim in the ocean.

I remember when he’d come home,
I’d get excited because he was fun,
There was this charisma about him,
Quality time between father and son.

So many memories are stored away,
They come up every once in a while,
Because all the secrets that he kept,
He kept them buried under a smile.

And for the years I didn’t hear from him,
I grew blue with the passage of time,
Seeing him again made me melancholic,
Seeing him as an old man past his prime.

But he still had that wonderful smile,
The tears of joy running down his cheek,
His fat belly, his hair and beard all white,
I’d never seen him cry trying to speak.

And for the remaining years of his life,
Pops and I spent some time patching up,
With all the long conversations we had,
We were now grown men catching up.

I know my father still fought his battles,
But deep down Frank was a good man,
He took a great pride in all his children,
Dreaming he would remarry his love again.

I don’t like to think about his last days,
But of better times when we’re all together,
He was the life of the party, pops was fun,
That’s the memory I want to treasure.

So as I transfer these ashes into his final resting place,
In commemoration of him I’m both sad and glad,
Sad because I miss him, glad because he was my father,
On this day I say, I love you - Happy Birthday Dad.