Happy Father's Day

Happy Father's Day...

Here's to the Fathers...
(Mitch Albom, 1996, The Detroit News)

Here's to the fathers, who always begin

on the outside of children, but looking in.

Such curious men snapping cameras like mad,

recording the moment, they turn into "Dad."

Here's to the fathers, who put in their time,

who don't say to mothers "that's your job, not mine".

Who wipe chins and noses and never say "won't"

who do with the diapers, what some fathers don't.

Here's to the fathers who manage to stay

when so many fathers are turning away.

When so many run, leaving families to rot,

here, then, a cheer, for those who do not.

Here's to the fathers whose big money dreams

die in the corner while their baby screams.

And yet without anger, dread or regrets,

they comfort the child, hold it close to their chests.

And as the child grows, they grow with it too,

learning a depth that they never knew.

And soon they are older, their hair slightly gone,

chasing two children around the front lawn.

Or car-pooling teams to Little League games,

buying them hamburgers after it rains.

They mend broken dolls and fix broken wheels,

they cringe when their daughters try their first pair of heels.

They reach in their pockets, but never keep count,

they pay dearly for parenthood-awful amounts

They postpone their plans to sail across seas,

instead they sing "Barney" and bandage skinned knees.

Here's to the fathers who get off the phone

to hear their sons practice their new saxophone.

Who leave work to see their daughter's recital

Here's to the heroes, who work without title.

For this is a world now full of neglect,

with everyday stories of lives that are wrecked.

Of fatherless children who take up with guns

to kill other children of fatherless sons.

Divorce shattered families, childhood's derailed,

mothers still waiting for checks still un-mailed

You wonder what wrongs these souls ever did

to make a grown man turn away from his kids.

So here's to the fathers who won't compromise

who see a light shining in their children's eyes

And feel a rare glow as if from a gem

and know that once someone saw this glow in them.

For all the good boys they have raised in the world,

for all the examples they set for their girls

For all the loved children whose stories they'll tell

Here's to the fathers that taught them so well.

Happy Father's Day!