For my Pa

Gone 41 years ago, today, and the tears are as fresh now as they were then. These are a couple of pieces I wrote years ago.

I sensed that you were nearby

It came by the scent of pipe tobacco

It’s funny, really

One moment I’m working away

The next I feel you near

Some may feel an eerie sense of foreboding

But I only felt safety

I know you’re looking over me

Silently watching me

Smiling as I grow

I know you’re there

I can feel you inside

Calming my emotions

Securing my heart

Against the unknown

Others back me in all trails taken You travel with me

A WORLD OF A GRANDFATHER AND GRANDDAUGHTER

How do you put down on paper what the times meant, when even though you lived them so much more was lived

The jokes, the laughter that only you two knew the meaning of

The words were different but the meaning was all the same

The greetings that only you and he understood

The love so strong that no barrier can or will ever break

You wonder why some others have it different

Then you know he made it different, he was there not just because you wanted it but because he wanted it too

You go not just for him but for you

The tears flow not only for those who didn’t make it but because he did

The man stands so tall, the white hair a little thin the eyes and smile his own

The world between a grandfather and granddaughter can be so different and yet so alike

No words can describe their world for in it no words are needed

Love Dirty Ole’ Meatball

October 7, 1982

To My Pa

Who I dearly love and admire

Every two years

suits are cleaned

dust wiped from medals

Old friends meet once more

Memories remembered

Ones who are gone are

Remembered with tears

No names are forgotten

Not even the one who wasn’t

Your closest friend

Men remember the past

The happiest and the saddest

That was awhile ago

But it is not forgotten

To the men of the

18th Field Company

Royal Canadian Engineers

9th Brigade

The 3rd Canadian

Infantry Div.

June 9, 1979