To The Father I Never Had.....

He sat with his back against the warm Summer wall

I knelt beside him and stared at him

I was a child

His hair was long and black with silver threaded through it

He looked over at me, "What are you staring at?" His tone was irritated but calm

"At you...I think you are beautiful.." I said in a whisper

He leaned his head back against the wall..And laughed..

I could see the silver in his teeth

He looked at me then, with eyes like warm chocolate, and smiled

"What is beautiful about me?" He asked amused

"Well, the wrinkles where your tears have have made paths down your cheeks.."

And the wrinkles that surround your lips and eyes where you have laughed

And the weathered look of your hands..It means you have worked hard in your life..And you know struggle..And what it means to be a man

He looked at me like a wounded animal..Sorrow and gentleness replacing his mirth

He said, "Child where did you come from? And How did you get to be so wise?"

I said, "You taught me the ways in which the heart flows..And to look beyond the physical life..To peer into the soul of all around me and see their worth."

He smiled at me again, gently and pulled me into his arms...

"I love you little one...You are bone of my bone and flesh of my flesh. And I will protect your tender heart from the hardness of this life."

But if I can't, let the wind, and the trees and the sky and the stars and the spirits that are good surround you in all unity and preserve the heart that loves so much, yours

Rue Zimmerman December 7, @2010