Memories

Its funny how a song on the radio

can evoke old memories from so long ago,

brings back pain I thought I’d left behind

from those darkest recesses of my mind.

Yesterday I heard Val Doonican, sing ‘The Special Years.’

Now, my dad sang that to me, and I remembered through my tears.

You see, my dad passed away a while back

and we never sang together

I never knew until after he’d gone

how our music could have made things better.

It’s never been easy being me

and I daresay dad was the same

we didn’t know much laughter

but we certainly knew pain.

We were products of a bygone age you see

of generations long since passed

we were two of a kind, my dad and me

a kind of familial contrast.

When joy was something you had to earn

by paying your dues to grief

this childhood lesson you had to learn

until it became belief.

And now some twenty three years have passed

since he left me here behind

but it still isn’t easy discovering

all the pain and the joy left behind.

Though he’s gone, he’s always in my heart

and I often talk to him

I know he’s listening, and looking in

but that memory won’t ever dim.

Old memories evoke such a searing pain

when they’ve never been laid to rest

on my soul they’ve left such a tortured stain

they are not content suppressed.

© E.V. Rose 030706