Father’s Day – Celebrate

I have spent this week remembering my father. Now I turn my focus to the beloved father of my children. This poem both mourns Dad and celebrates Les:  

But I Have You

Endless schedules
reduced to a small mound
of fragile bones and cold flesh
all the sound and fury
flamed into an urn of ash

Impossible to believe
that Dad is gone

Orphaned beyond all comprehension– 
I have no father

But I have you, my love—

father of our children
keeper of our safety
guardian of our gates
sanctuary for my soul

We will go on

(Excerpted from This Path We Share: Reflecting on 60 Years of Marriage © 2010 Lois Tschetter Hjelmstad)

Comments

Jan Baird 15-06-2012, 11:54

Thank you, Lois, for all these lyrical tributes to your father and your husband as Father’s Day approaches. Your words touch our heartstrings and make us long to get back what we’ve lost. xx

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Lois Hjelmstad 15-06-2012, 12:46

Thanks for your comments, Jan. I really appreciate your visiting this blog! And you have such a great blog.

Why don’t the rest of you visit Jan’s site at http://www.janhasak.com/blog?

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Jan Baird Hasak 24-06-2012, 14:39

Thank you so much, Lois, for the shout. I really appreciate it. Your poetry means so very much to me. I lost my dear parents within the last decade, and your words resonate throughout the chambers of my mind as I reflect upon their goodness, their love, their membership in the Greatest Generation. You are part of that, too, and I admire you for it. xx

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Lois Hjelmstad 15-06-2012, 13:11

Thank you, Jan. I do appreciate your comments. It has been helpful to me to assemble these posts. It is important, I think, to stop a moment and think about some of the passages in our lives. You do that so well on your blog, http://www.janhasak.com/blog..

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Pinkunderbelly 16-06-2012, 06:03

Beautiful, just beautiful, Lois. I love how your words instantly drop us into the enormity of loss, then sweep us right back up into the joy and love you feel toward your husband. What a powerful and uplifting experience I’ve had by reading these words.

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Lois Hjelmstad 17-06-2012, 10:08

Thank you for for kind words. You are so gracious.

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Nancy's Point 18-06-2012, 10:57

Beautiful writing, Lois, just beautiful. It’s more of that andness of life isn’t it?

And I love your new blog site!

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Lois Hjelmstad 18-06-2012, 11:06

Once one is aware of andness, it shows up everywhere. I love my new blog site, too. Scott did a great job.

However, on my monitor the picture hides the bottom half of my tabs. Is that true on anyone else’s monitor? Scott says all of his are OK and we’ve tried everything to fix mine. I’d appreciate feedback on this.

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