Father's Day Letter

A Poem by Tom Friel

Hey Dad,

How’s it going? I’m sending this to you via cyber mail in hopes they’ve got computers up there. As you know there’s been a few others from the neighborhood that have passed on sense you left. I was back a few weeks ago for Mrs. McCann’s funeral. She’s going to be buried just a short distance from you. The neighbors got to talking and one of them wisecracked that we weren’t losing the neighborhood we were just moving the neighborhood.

Mom’s going to miss Ethel but not nearly as much as she misses you. We all miss you, no doubt. It really brought back some memories for Mom to find the old love letters you wrote to her. You knew she would find them eventually, didn’t you?

The price of gas has gone through the roof these days; it’s over four bucks a gallon. It’s almost cheaper to fly these days but the airlines are starting to jack their prices up too. Those “damn farmers” as you liked to call them are rolling in the clover these days. From what I read in the paper this morning corn is going for over six bucks a bushel.

Bush is still in office and he’s still doing a piss poor job. I guess some things haven’t changed. One thing that may change though is we may get our first black president. Actually he’s half black but basically he looks more black than white. I’m all for the guy myself. He’s a little green behind the ears but he’s what this country needs right now.

All of your sons and daughters are accounted for and doing pretty well. We don’t stay in touch as well as when you were around. Losing you was like pulling out the cornerstone in our family. You were always the sage of reason. You always called a spade a spade.

On a sad note, Deb has been diagnosed with breast cancer again and is now undergoing chemo. We both fully expect her to beat this thing once again and for her to stick around to bug me for a long, long time. But since you’re a little closer to the big guy than I am maybe you could keep her in your prayers for me.

I couldn’t help but be influenced by you when it came to my poetry dabbling. I never shared them with you when you were here. To be honest I probably wouldn’t have shared them with you if you were still around. Most are pretty sad. Maybe the one I will share with you is one entitled “One Final Lesson”. With Father’s Day coming up it would be fitting if you had a chance to read this to let you know how I really feel.