A New York Father's Day Poem

Whether your father is alive or dead, Father's Day is a day to remember, sometimes the bad times as well as the good.  But still, a time to remember.

"All of My Friends Are Dead “

I am glad that you were not here or alive to have seen the slaughter

of the towers and the people, the funeral pyre, crematorium,

the place where you once proudly worked for Schatz Painting Company,

a master painter, painting walls and trim,

a part of the birth of those two tall buildings.

It is because of you that I returned to the towers just two days before

the destruction, back home after your death, to a city where

you did not want to return, All my friends are dead, you’d say,

 living in the past, where your days passed outweighed your days to come. 

I remember as a child looking up as you'd leave each morning in white, instead

of carrying a stethoscope, your father’s wish, you carried a scraper and a brush,

dressed in the color of angels.  Through that death and destruction,

I see you, a phoenix from this fire, for every New York breath I take,

you are ever present.

Mary Crescenzo

____

"For Father’s Day"

There are two kids who live on the planet Dream.

Twins, each with eyes of sparking green

who are kind and smart and never mean

and whose age is somewhat in between

two boys and a girl - who are ours, separately,

and these twins belong to you and me.

Their hair is raven with curls galore

and music is something they adore.

They play and sing and dance

in their very own way

and even practice everyday!

I don’t know their names (you tell me!)

but to our family, now of three,

we have added two and that makes five,

a brood of kids while we’re alive.

And although our parenting styles may clash,

something we never do is lash

out with hands or words or time,

and still the twins are just sublime.

They’re bright and beautiful

and healthy and driven,

and manners and commitment are always a given.

In this perfect world they inspire the others

to have plans and goals and long-term druthers.

But in the real world on this Father’s Day

our kids may not be perfect in every way,

still, we love them for all that they are
and we dream together that they'll go far.

Still, it’s nice to imagine

I had twins - yours and mine,

and their birth was natural and painless and divine.

That one night in our life under the stars

we made the magic that created two children of ours.

And even though you’re a father without me,

I wish you a Father’s Day, as great as can be.

And through the years, hopefully,

our three real children shall become true family.

Mary Crescenzo