Hamilton, Ontario
About Dad
Shortly after my father passed
away in 2008, I wrote a poem in his honour, a way of saying “Thanks!” It will
be his birthday on the 1st of February. He was born in the
Netherlands, the place of tulips, in 1919. As a member of the Vaishnava
tradition, bhakti yoga, we have a natural obligation to feel for
our parents who did so much for us. Here’s my poem:
About Dad
Dear Creator
You struck a good balance
When you linked the leaf and petal
Came a man of heart and muscle
Smooth as silk, hard as metal
With pride he told his pastimes
Of a place of windmills and dikes
Which fueled life then and there
With feet on skates and feet on bikes
Folks then bore brutal war
Watched the stock market crash
Lost jobs but not nerve
Convictions could never be smashed
He left the land below sea level
For a promised place remote
Atlantic waters rippled by
On a real and wanderlust boat
He married a lady called Rose
Life was of both fragrance and thorn
They begot two guys ‘n two gals
Then twins were newly born
He walked us down the outdoor trails
But inside told of birds and bees
He gave us each those daily chores
And how to milk those cows with ease
He grew those plants with a green thumb
Toiled decades on the assembly line
With different strokes he cracked those jokes
He was just fun-loving all the time
Patience he learned in a very hard way
He gave us our choices in life
Our music was not to cope with
It gave him some stress and strife
His was a life full of colours
Sporting half beard and wooden shoes
He was extraordinary, yet ordinary
An upbeat dad you thought to never lose
His heart froze in the land of the petal
His body lies in the land of the leaves
Oh Creator, rest his soul in heaven
For he was born to give and please
May the Source be with you!
4 km
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