English: Father and daughter J. Kennedy and Cissy, 1905 (Photo credit: Wikipedia)
In my father’s home
His father stern
Created out of fear and rules
The fault lines in his children
All broken somehow
In their own, unique way
They took their lessons
Into the bleak day
The bleak day
In my father’s home
He’d be called to heel
Spare the rod and spoil the child
What was there
To be revealed?
Just the nothing
Of a loveless way
They took their lessons
Into the bleak day
The bleak day
Years later my father took
His broken need
To his new family
He tried and failed
To bridge the gap
Unaccepted in the world at large
And barely recognised
Within my family’s sway
He took his lessons
Into the bleak day
The bleak day
I never knew him really
Not even when he died
He was thunder and remoteness
Locked up, within, inside
What little that he knew of love
He hugged within himself
A beggar cannot recognise
The truer path to wealth
And if I had the chance now
‘I understand’ is what I’d say
You took your lessons
Into the bleak day
The bleak day
(c) Helen Valentina 2013, All Rights Reserved
helenvalentina 
misplaced
~
fear’s only
a path
to resentful
not
love
Thanks so much!! 🙂 🙂
So beautiful and haunting.
Thank you!! 🙂 🙂
Fathers are hard to figure out. Mine died when I was ten so the only problem I had to deal with was my fault or not. Having a remote father must be tough.
It was, but I feel he suffered most for the remoteness – distance and time lent perspective and compassion for me I found. 🙂 🙂
A thoughtful piece… I can feel his distance and isolation through your words, and the choral: a bleak day, a bleak day.
Well done
Thanks so much!! 🙂 🙂
Powerfully poignant…and very eloquently written!
Thank you so much!! 🙂 🙂
You are most sincerely welcome! 🙂 !!
Wow Helen this is powerful and tragic the repetition is incredibly effective I have chills and I am on the verge of tears
Wow, thank you, this is very personal as it is about my father and how I see him There’s a lot of him and the relationship I wish I had had with him, in the father character in The Seed too. 🙂
I caught on to that right away I am reading The Seed now =) I am not a fast reader though because of the problem I have with my eyes but what I have read so far is amazing
Thanks so much!! I’m glad you are enjoying it!! 🙂
Your IQ must be off the charts Helen, your understanding of human nature is outstanding and terrifying God knows what you know about me that I don’t even know about me yet lol
Lol, I am sure there is much about you I could not know without you telling me. As to understanding people, people are what fascinates me, and it’s also a large part of y day job, lol!! 🙂 🙂
People fascinate me as well and I admit to an obsession with psychology, medicine, philosophy and pretty much any subject that helps me understand them lol
A lovely and sad piece. The refrain really adds to the sadness.
Thanks so much!! 🙂 🙂
Beautifully written, Dear Sis. It touched my heart for so many reasons. 🙂
Thank so much Sis!! 🙂 🙂 xxx