Daddy's Girl
Today would have been
my father’s 80th birthday.
He passed away
at the unripe age of 69
from the effects of dementia
and a host of other things
that tagged along
for the ride.
A native New Yorker
and avowed “city person,”
he was known to stand amidst
beautiful country landscapes declaring
“if you’ve seen one tree,
you’ve seen ‘em all.”
He was funny
and I adored him.
And although he could never
picture himself living
as I have for many years–
with toes dirtied by seaweed
rather than by soot–
each time he visited me
he seemed to understand.
Were he here now,
I do believe
he would deeply grasp why
I live the way I do.
If only he were
just fourteen hours away.
I love you, Daddy.
Alex Shapiro November 2008
2 comments:
A very lovely, touching tribute to a father well-loved by a very loving, beautiful, inspiring, and extremely talented woman Alex Shapiro..:)
Well put, Janet. We all are huge Alex Shapiro fans here in the Northwest. I haunt her blog site, NOTES FROM THE KELP like a tick on a dog.
Glenn
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