DAD

Death’s Angel in thick smoke, has gathered,

The flames of the fire to his breast,

While the embers are struggling together,

To deny this final request.

My father is searching around him,

For the sweet air that once filled his youth,

But the dark clouds of death do bind him

In their shrouds with cloaking reproof

There is a bright star that died at his birth,

Yet still in the sky is its glow

For its light has not yet reached the Earth,

As his struggles for life do show.

But the time of its travel is closing,

On the darkening valley below.

Today the light of his star reached the Earth,

And ceased to exist and to shine

Eighty-eight years since the time of his birth,

It has taken for it to decline.

It was a star with a radiant beam,

With a loyal and valiant glow,

But now it cannot be seen,

By these wet eyes that loved him so.

I can do nothing but remember him now,

For his spirit will walk in his space,

Along the pathways that live in my mind,

Where he’ll occupy a permanent place,

And will surely therein soon find,

The glow of my Mother’s sweet face.

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It is over now, our parents they have gone,

Those who struggled through life for us all,

Who were always there for each and every one;

Though they stumbled often never did they fall.

They were just people of human flesh and frail,

As imperfect as we all are on this Earth,

But their special unity for a lifetime did not fail;

And here we stand as proof of their true worth.

They overcame poverty, ignorance and spite,

That did not diminish their faith nor dim their pride,

For there’s was honesty doing what they thought was right

And now in their sweet memory we can all delight.

We farewelled our Mother; now for our father we do the same,

Let us now forever, cherish our family name.

© Colin F Jones

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