Alive – Tags: child and parent, childhood memories, connection, dad, dad and daughter, dad and I, family, father, life, loss, Love, memories, mourning, parent, parental love

Poem | In loving memory of my father

What shall I do? Where shall I go?
Wait, I’ll ask him
Help, please, I did something stupid
Dad’ll fix it
Is this the right decision? The right thing for me?
Wait, I’ll ask him

Wait…

I cannot call him. He’s not there.
Lost him thirty-two years ago.
Still hurts. Still miss him. My dad.
Not a hero, but a wonderful human being.

Kind and loving, gentle and forgiving
Always there if you needed him
A listening ear and sound advice
Even if I didn’t always follow it up

I miss having him just one call away
I miss not having him in my life
I miss him missing out on my children growing up
I miss him missing out on his daughter becoming a grandma

His death meant having to grow up all of a sudden
Nothing more to lean on, to go to with troubles and worries
And just when he was opening up about his youth
About surviving a Japanese camp in Indonesia

We planned to visit Indonesia together
He’d show me where he was born, where he lived
We’d walk the streets he used to take as a boy
A trip down memory lane we never got the chance for

Today is the day he passed away.
Today a candle burns for him and all the ones we lost
The candle is not a sad one; it expresses hope and love
Love is what missing is about.
You miss people because you loved them. And still do.

As long as there’s love, as long as they are in your memory
They are not dead. They are alive.
That’s why we should share stories about all our loved ones
Anecdotes that make us smile, emotive moments that bring a tear to our eyes

Share the love by sharing their memory. That’s how we keep everyone alive.

©Caz.C.Cole

*This poem has also been published on Medium*