Treading in the Steps of the Greats

"Good Night Dad"

Grandpa Ed and My Father Eddie Jr.

Looking back to my eighteenth year

sitting with gramps in the grandstand

He looked at me, said " listen son

life seldom goes as we planned"

"See your father out on the track

coming 'round in the post parade

You should be proud of him you know

for all the dues that he has paid"

"If you'd said fifteen years ago

that he was the cream of the crop

I'd beat you down, there on the ground

leaving your a*s on the blacktop"

"Not many get knocked down in life

then rise to the top of the hill

As life exacts a price you see

from those willing to pay that bill"

Years later we stood by his grave

my father, my brothers and I

Gramps hadn't shared this forgiveness

before he had to say goodbye

I passed that story to my dad

whose eyes said he understood

For as a man, it was my plan

to help ease his pain if I could

Then when my own father passed

I stood there holding his ashes

About to pour, across the floor

of the track that saw our clashes

In that one defining moment

I whispered a prayer to the Fates

"Please forgive the sins of my youth

"

treading in the steps of the Greats

Author's Note

When my father was young he gave my grandfather bloody fits. I know how he regretted it later. As he was so hard on me for fear that I too would take that road. He said to me "Son you scare me to death. Of all my children you are the one that keeps me up at night. I see myself in you and it scares me. Just because you are fearless doesn't mean you are immortal." I came to find he was right. I do not know what drives young men to temp the will of unkind fates. However I lived to tell the tales and my son now is doing the same to me. So there is justice. Last month he came home on a motorcycle to tell me he was tired of just existing and wanted to live a little. He wants to have adventures as I have had. God is paying me back for the sleepless nights I dealt my own father.
When my own father passed a year ago we poured his ashes across the race track where his life began and his race ended. Miss ya dad!

Reviews

[Annette Pisano-Higley]

Brilliant writing and poignant backstory told in your Author’s Note. Such a raw and personal family chronicle...the volatile give and take from fathers to sons, relived...Perfection in form, flow, cadence, rhyme, imagery, allegory. Superb, nostalgic family picture. You are a wise man. Thank you so much for the excellent poetic invitation to share your life. Bravo!

[Tate Morgan]

Hi Annette thank you so much Nice to see you today

[Cherrie Palmer]

Young people have a hard time understanding those men cut from the cloth of hard times.
But here in this poem they can get a glimpse of those that lived and they that followed.

[Tate Morgan]

Beautiful rendering of what I was trying to portray . Thank you Cherrie

[A Soap Mess Stories]

We seem to frustrate our parents and get dealt the same blow in our own children. Wonderful tribute.

[Tate Morgan]

Thank you valarie

[Great Aunt Astri]

Some lovely use of words ...'gramps in the grandstand', 'cream of the crop', 'about to pour, across the floor', 'for as a man, it was my plan'. I think many will identify with this relationship between fathers and sons. The last verse is very profound. But we must remember to forgive ourself too. It is impossible to be the perfect person

[Tate Morgan]

Thank you astri it is a very personal work

[Shubham Sharma]

Wow you are so cruel. Your writing seriously makes others cry, in a good way of course. I was so happy I came upon this piece or rather a "masterpiece" of art. So full of emotions and grimly-gay narration your poem is inspiration and overwhelming. Such poetry is seen rarely. Please write more works like this. I literally beg of you.

[Tate Morgan]

Shubham Thank you. I hope you find all my works to be so gratifying. Im honored.

[Abraham Kureshi]

Beautiful, loved every bit of it. Thank you for sharing.

[Tate Morgan]

Thank you so
Much

[Sarah]

Beautiful personal piece, really enjoyed reading this, shows how generations go by from a son becoming a father and having the realisation of what the father dealt with.

[Tate Morgan]

thank you sarah Yeah It is sure a different feeling to become the parent

[AllenS]

Tate, I have come to realize this experience is legion for young men and their fathers. I wonder if a grand fathers raison d' etre, the instructions in the small print, opened late in life is that of interpreter.

My life with my father is found in "I Thought"

Thanks for this elegant memory.

[Tate Morgan]

Thank you Allen I wish men in my own family as well as others had been taught to master emotions. I believe it is the hiding of them that causes so much pain.

[AllenS]

I agree, and wonder if it is not this lack of facility with articulation of one's emotional life that creates the vacuous yearning.

[Tate Morgan]

Oh yeah my father mastered only one emotion anger he just assumed I would understand

[BBP]

Really enjoyed this read. The girttiness yet soft side of your Gramps and how everything goes full circle and you learned from it! :)

Beautiful.

[Tate Morgan]

Hi kiddo . I learn best the hard way.Men are strange you learn from a grandpa what your father wont share You learn from the father what the grandpa wont share Then you learn from your own experience.The smart man learns from his mistakes While the wise man learns from yours. Thank you

[BBP]

So very true!

Wise words: The smart man learns from his mistakes While the wise man learns from yours.

[Susan 🦋]

Hi Taters :-) what a moving poem!..AHH fathers and sons. Daughters can be difficult too :-) funny how maturity changes your perspective..as a wild child myself..boy did my daughters get back at me! Formatting is nice,, easy peasy flow from start to finish. A great read. :-)

[Tate Morgan]

Hi Susan thank you I had my days of drama with my daughters as well