To My Father

To My father

I remember most your laughter, how quick you were to smile
remember the delicious meals you cooked, the friends you served in style.
remember now the joy you had with pheasant's in the sun
to you they were so special, you wouldn't eat not one.
remember when I was little, you calling me to watch TV.
and how when I lay there snuggled close, you would be so happy
“Give respect to earn respect.” was something you once said
so many of your words of wisdom, recorded in my head.

With your sudden passing, came a huge hole in my heart.
 With so many words left unsaid I don't know where to start.
You were my Hero, you were my Teacher, you were my Friend
And since we shared that special bond, I never dreamed that it would end,
or at least that when it ended,  it wouldn't end like this
Without the chance to say farewell, without a goodbye kiss
 I did not write you when I could, nor did I seek to call
our conversations, brief hellos, or sometimes none at all
Why did I let the years go by, too busy with my life,
and now the knowledge that you're gone, cuts through me like a knife.
And as I sit here, drenched in tears and wailing to the sky.
I know that mine is not to know, the purpose, or the why.
I just know that someone close to me was torn out of my life.
And though your pain is ended, many more live still in strife.
 Many people still need help, and this I know is true,
That if you had been alive today, you would be helping too.
So  Daddy I will try my best, to honor you if I can.
You taught me to enjoy my life, and how to be a man.

R.I.P Wesner Toussaint (1942-2010)