Once in a lifetime There comes a man like you Who bears a son much like yourself And I know it’s hard for you to believe That he’s grown into a man But father, I sincerely understand And I have always remembered That once, every night of my existence To thank my lucky stars That you’ve given me the strength To be a better man By providing a guiding light With your wisdom Your encouragement Your love But there comes a time In our evolution through life When a father and a son, can no longer be as one And it took me so long to recover From the pain of having denied the love I once so dearly relied upon It takes more than time to discover That for both the young and old Truth is sometimes cold but right This is my life and I will always hold my own Even when it means hurting us both But all the wrongs became the rights When we stopped to wonder “how” By looking inside our hearts With humble honesty To discover what has been kept hidden And accept the truths That have been avoided By the ignorance of stubborn pride And yes, my dear father Look at us … We are better friends now
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Posted: Oct 2012
About this poem:
I wrote in my mid twenties after a number of years of conflict with my father. Although deep down inside we both loved one another very much we couldn't get along. I always believed I was a disappointment to him, I couldn't live up to what I thought he wanted me to be. The harder I tried to do things I thought would be right in his eyes the more bitter his criticism became. We drifted further and further apart. I rebelled. Then the day came I had to look honestly an harshly at myself realized that all he wanted from me and for me was to be my own man. I had to accept that disagreements and disappointments were a part of life, that perfection was an illusion, my illusion, something that cannot and would not ever be achievable.
What a great parallelism this is as far as our relationships with our earthly father (in your case, int his poem) and that of our relationship to God. Really all they want for us is that we never stumble on anything and if we did, that we are able to cope with it. Introspective... well done!
Odette67Penrith, Cumbria, England UKOct 22, 2012
I am sure many can identify with this superb poem...I was always at war with my Mother...I could never please her...I love and miss her still after 15 yrs.
TisOnlyMe4UMaple Ridge, British Columbia CanadaNov 16, 2012
Hey great write here and I felt you were telling my story of the relation with my mom.. I suffered for 40 yrs before I stood up to her! Really glad I did too.
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