Da

On finding an old picture

In the album among many a family photo

An image of a young lad of four or five

Sits on a bed

Faded, black and white, sepia on the edges

Half a century or more now gone by

Since a long gone brother clicked and flashed

Freezing this moment in time.

Next to the bed, a man

Can this be my Da?

At his end he was so frail and weak

Hardly seems the same once young father

The contrast not lost over the span of time gone by.

He stands so straight and tall

The scene reappears from the depths of memory

How he comforted me in the midst

Some childhood ailment, chicken pox

A story told, a game played

How he held me with hands so strong

Gentle and filled with love

He looked at me with pride

Oh how I miss him.