OLD MAN  -about father's and son's

I called you on the phone- you answered slow
each time, as you spoke, gathering your thoughts, parsing
every word- at first-not recognizing me, then a spark of the familiar

you said, my name as we made small talk this day and every day
our common thread to kindle, of the days events; such generalized
things; the weather, your health- the house needing repairs, all
the by and by, still and all, until then when

the conversation would eventually peter out, we agreed to
speak again soon, we never touched upon, to say "I love you"
each time remaining, complacent, aloof, and during this silence
all I could think of was what I needed to do-once I hung up with him-

and  now your gone-of this I realized much too late
-of the common, the mundane, the thread that bound us
one to the other, as father and son

am I like you?- I wondered year after year- as I saw your
reflection staring back at me, in the mirror- and now, thinking
I wish I had turned the conversation back to us- to make it about us
to say I love you, and really mean it- for I never told you, you
were my original superhero- the person I most wanted to be, then
over time-as we took each other for granted, your presence diminished but your memory lives on

I am the Father now- and a Grandfather too, and with every conversation I have with my sons I tell them I love them and they to me-I don't want them to think that  saying "I love you" is un-manly- something you don't say out -loud, my  sons are of a different generation as I was to my Father  and this is a
good thing for all of us, knowing unconditionally that we as men can give love and receive love to each other and not be afraid to speak it out loud or to show it and accept this as our gift to each other; as father and son(s).

By Michael Perry