Weekly Scribblings #47 and we're asked to consider lessons learned from someone we loved. I learned so many things from my father, who led his life by example. In his later years, I captured this golden afternoon in poem, when he taught me the lesson of gratitude.
Submitted to Poets and Storytellers United, November 25, 2020
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A MAN OF COURAGE
As we rode through summer breezes
The man of courage and I
He taught me still another lesson
As he had since I was just so high.
For the years had left their burden
And now he walked with a cane
And the body once strong and strapping
Now faltered and gave much pain.
I heard him not once complaining
As we passed fields of grain on our drive
But commenting on God’s bounty and sunshine
Saying, “It’s a good day to be alive”.
When I find I’m feeling sorry
For the problems and troubles I’ve had
I look to my model of courage
With humble gratitude…I love you, Dad.
How tenderly written
ReplyDeleteYes, so much tenderness here ... and thankfulness.
ReplyDeleteYou're lucky you had him. My father also taught lessons: He exemplified all the things to avoid if/when we became husbands/ parents. Sounds like yours was a "How To..." sort of guy; mine was a "Beware of..." sort. But I think I'm a better man for having learned my lessons, so I guess it all works out, eh?
ReplyDeleteNice one Bev
ReplyDeleteHappy Wednesday
Much🖤love
Whar a delighful tribute to your father.
ReplyDeleteSuch an important bond! A lovely reminiscence and tribute, Bev. My Dad's leg was injured in an accident when he was 10, and for the rest of his life he was often in great pain and sometimes had to use a walking stick. He too was uncomplaining and usually cheerful. It was only when I grew up that I realised what courage he exhibited every day.
ReplyDeleteSo nice to have a father to look up to, and consider a "Man of Courage!" It's good to have the adults in a child's life not be complainers.
ReplyDeleteI taught my sister and my daughters to drive, as well as six or seven other girls before I married. My tràde merk was to lift hands off the wheel when we crossed railroad tracks. When the one I mattied showed her father how well I had taught her he became unglued when she did the hands off. And of course she told on me then.
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I can feel this moment, the simplicity yet depth of the feeling.
ReplyDeleteYou had a wonderful relationship with your father, which shines through in the tender way you write about him, Bev – and courage is an excellent quality to take from him.
ReplyDeleteHe sounds like my dad, who slowly had to give up bike riding, handball, and even swimming. Never lost his sense of humor.
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