
He is a young man
As he regards his newborn son
lying just beyond the glass,
He is struck by the realization
of the responsibility he now faces
As a father
No longer a newborn,
He is now a young man
Through his experience as a parent
he is gaining a new understanding
Of his father
No longer a young man,
he lies recovering
from yet more surgery
The young man is struck by the realization
of the responsibility he now faces
As a son
On the eve of Father’s Day,
He comes to realize that it takes
more than a holiday to make a father
Just as that father may be loved
on more than just that day
I wrote this for my father in 1993. The video has the story behind the poem, as well as a reading.