I was never one for my kids to look up to <br />That's a stone cold fact that I'll always regret <br /> <br />I was never the best dad, for them to hold on to <br />I was there and I provided, I cared…and yet <br /> <br />I didn't give enough love, I wasn't tender enough <br />I was too much a disciplinarian, too quick to berate <br /> <br />I wanted to teach them to be righteous and tough <br />I realize my mistake, now that it's much… much too late <br /> <br />Too late to do the proper things…, <br />to say the words I wished I'd said <br /> <br />Too late to cherish them over, and above all other things <br />Too late to tuck them snugly in bed <br /> <br />To hold them tightly, to kiss them goodnight <br />Too late to see the happiness on their faces <br /> <br />Too late for me to set things right… <br />Too late to tie their tiny shoelaces <br /> <br />Too late to savor them clinging tightly to me <br />In fright at the monsters on 'Lost In Space' <br /> <br />Too late to wonder at their amazing resilience <br />As I looked down upon their angelic sleeping faces <br /> <br />They are blessed with selective memories that… <br />Remember only the good and not the bad <br /> <br />Thank God for the knowing that they remember me kindly <br />But no matter their memories…I'll always feel sad <br /> <br />For I look at old photos of them <br />And my old heart slowly breaks <br /> <br />At all the things I should have done back then <br />And of all my past mistakes <br /> <br /> <br />Now it's too late to tell them Of Fairies and moonbeams… <br />and sparkling stardust and of Angel wings <br /> <br />I was never one for my kids to look up to… <br />I can only grow old and… never forget <br /> <br />That I never did enough of these fatherly things <br />And I'll forever be one to look back and regret<br /><br />David Whalen<br /><br />http://www.poemhunter.com/poem/a-father-s-lament/
