These Are My JOTtings, Part #2

Dad

The man you were, the man I am,
the legacy we want to leave.
It's harder now to daily stand
because you're gone, and now I grieve.

'Tis 21, the years this March,
that I have walked this trail alone
without my father's loving arch,
whose words could bless the ways I've grown.

I pray I honor him each day
by living a life that's full of Grace.
I pray I'll finally hear him say,
"I'm proud of you. You've kept your place."

The tears we cry are known in Heaven.
The pain we feel within His Wings
is cherished by He, Who Side so riven,
can help us, Whose compassion sings.

"Dear Dad, I miss you, but I'm proud
of who you've lived your life to be,
a man, who served the Lord, and plowed,
for one day with Him, you I'll see."

by Jay O’Toole
on March 21st, 2023