My Father

A life well lived

In this photo you are

So young

Handsome like a movie star

A young man of 20 something.

You aren’t wearing

Your signature glasses

Black rimmed and thick.

Intimidating.

I imagine you recently arrived

From the old country,

Your expression so naïve and sunny

Not one I grew to know.

Now sitting cross-legged,

Debonair with hands folded on lap

On the edge of a fountain

A student, at University.

I see my son’s face in yours

I see what looks like hope,

something I never knew in you.

Something he lost too.

But as you aged,

After your stroke

You became cheery,

You had hope.

Now I see you as an old man

Happy again.

No longer a cynic

Or a hypercritic.

I’m grateful for those later years

No longer driven by fear

To know you as an adult

To dialogue and debate, but mostly love.

At the end, retelling all the stories

Of your charmed life, and shenanigans

You accomplished much and loved so well.

A life well-lived.