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A Father’s Day Message That Could Even Be Verse
In the tradition of Hallmark (without its excellence)…
By Ed Goldman
This year, I think, I won’t succumb
To Hallmark Dad’s-Day rhetoric.
My dad’s long gone
But I’ve gone on
And find each rhyming letter sick.
Your only child won’t write to you
For reasons still mysterious?
Although it’s hard:
By now, a card
Should not make you delirious.
Father and Daughter (Jessica Laskey): Paris, 2010
Yes, fatherhood’s an awesome thing
But comes with some iniquities
Like wounds still sore
From years before
—So old they are antiquities.
Our lives are but a moment’s run,
We waste our time belaboring
Too many nights
On petty slights
And sour becomes our flavoring.
The best job that I ever took
Without a net or bother would
Cause sleeplessness
Sometimes. But this
Came with the role of fatherhood.
To ev’ry father near and far,
Who ever had a role in this
Most troubling dish
Called “kids,” I wish
You joy and some condolences.
For now, as I recall the past,
With love (I hope not snarkily),
I hope this verse
Was not too terse
Or came out too Hallmark-ily.
Ed Goldman's column appears almost every Monday, Wednesday and Friday. A former daily columnist for the Sacramento Business Journal, as well as monthly columnist for Sacramento Magazine and Comstock’s Business Magazine, he’s the author of five books, two plays and one musical (so far).
