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)