Happy Father’s Day

Dad

By: Charles F. Porter

This is a painful truth

Our calls have been leaving me so empty

Though we have had our disagreements

And times you think I do not care.

This couldn’t be further from the truth for I think of you each day

Longing for you praise and prideful gaze.

Deep down it seems these days are long gone.

Trying to imagine your face on the other end of the line

The distance I can’t bare

Just tell me one more time before we hang up

If it’s the last thing that I hear, it will eliminate the one thing that I fear.

Say that you love me and that you are proud

I’m doing my best I know I am a good son.

I can’t fight this fight for much longer and our lives must go on

When all is lost, you’ve taught me to be strong

And so I’ll wipe away my tears and walk with my head held high

Remembering the good times that we had.

From now until the end of days, you will always be my dad.

For many years I was kept in the dark about the severity of my father’s condition was becoming. He began to have memory issues and I attributed them to age. He always tackled things on his own, never wanting to rely on others. What I thought was a change in heart was truly a change in his mind. A mind that he no longer had full control of as his dementia set in. Eventually the disease took his life though there were times, once he was put into a home, where we were able to find our way back as father and son. He met my first daughter and I have a video of him saying that it was the greatest day in his life. That was all I needed to know.—Charles