Blog Chain - Jingle Bells

Happy Holidays everyone!! Okay, for this round, we decided to mix it up a bit, change the order we post, and just pick our own topic for some holiday fun. Mary started our Jingle Bell Chain and Terri is the blogger before me in this chain. Since I am the last person on the list, please head to Mary's blog to check out all the fun posts.

Well, I was going to post a fun poem I wrote for my father, ten or so years ago. It was a funny spin on Twas a Night Before Christmas, filled with funnies about my dad's personality quirks (you know, the usual stuff - there were 5 of us kids, we had a mouse that lived in the wall that you could hear scratching around at night, we had a cat that my dad repeatedly tried to leave at various dairies who somehow always - no joke - found her way home...usually pregnant - and it ended with "Merry Christmas to all, and TURN OUT THAT LIGHT!" It was just fabulous, really). But alas, back then I didn't keep copies of what I wrote, and my mom, though she searched long and hard and found everything that I have ever written, was unable to locate the one I wanted.

So, since my mind is mush, I scrolled through the pieces that I was smart enough to save to find something else :) It is my father's birthday in just a few days, so I will post a poem that I wrote for him for Father's Day a few years ago. No laughing now :D I'm not that great of a poet ;)

THE MASTERPIECE

“You are like my masterpiece,”
You said to me one day.
Just like a famous painting,
Or a sculpture made of clay.

I had always known you loved me,
But it wasn’t until then,
That I saw you for who you really were,
My father, a king among men.

You always worked so hard for us,
And never got much rest.
I’ll always remember what you did,
I know I’m truly blest.

“You are my masterpiece,” you said to me,
Those words meant everything.
They are sweeter to me than any sound,
They caused my heart to sing.

“You are my masterpiece,” you said to me,
And I finally understand.
Because now I have a child of my own,
And I pray that he can withstand.

I see how easily he can be hurt,
And my heart breaks to think of his pain.
I finally know how you must have felt,
Each time I broke under the strain.

I don’t remember you crying much,
But I remember you that day,
Your eyes were filled with unshed tears
That you could no longer keep at bay.

You cried for me, your masterpiece,
Because I had been harmed.
But you were there to comfort me,
And take me in your arms.

And now I have my own sweet child,
He is my life, at least.
Someday I’ll tell him what you told me,
“You are my masterpiece.”

I wonder if he’ll understand,
My pain each time he cries.
Why I’ll strive so fervently,
To protect him from a world of lies.

I’m sure someday he’ll understand,
When he has a child of his own,
And he looks into her tear-filled eyes,
When she feels lost and alone.

And until then, I’ll do my best,
As I watched you do for me,
No little girl could be more blest,
Than to have you for her Daddy.

Happy Holidays Everyone