Cheeku
Today is father’s Day. I never thought it was important to have a father’s day because I always felt for my sons everyday would be father’s day! Cheeku and Tubby-you made my life a celebration everyday. Even when you were not with me I knew you were a phone call away…I could call you anytime and I would hear you say ‘Hi dad!’ How little we know what destiny has in store for us! And how all the things that we take for granted can disappear in a blink of an eye…
Today on this father’s day I am happy that Tubby is here with me. But that you are not physically with me leaves such a void in my life. I sometimes in a fit of delusion pick up the phone and dial your mobile number +447849420921. The operator says, the number you have called is not recognized. I know I must try again, you must be sleeping or in the library or out walking or in the Union pub…Cheeku, I want to hear your voice…
A friend sent me this poem today…I really wish you were here sending it to me:
How can I touch you when you’re far away?
A poem is not as salient as a kiss.
Poems but poorly presences convey,
Perhaps because of all that words must miss.
Yet write I must because you are not here,
Father farther from my eyes than heart,
A face more frequent than it might appear,
Tempered by the tyrannies of art.
How might I be with you in ways that are
Equal to the passion of my yearning,
Reaching for a grace beyond the bar
‘Ere there’s any word of your returning.
So may the time between us quickly pass,
Days of longing that long cannot last,
A time when but through words we may embrace,
Yet know that someday we will be face to face.
I love you beta.
Dad