3. A Missing
My dad he is missing
and I long for him.
I think he left us;
I know what it felt like,
or was it just a divorce?
Dad all those years you were gone.
I asked you, mother,
what happened, what went wrong?
You said, don't you bother,
or I will dis-own you.
What the _ _ _ _ does that do
to your sons and daughter?
Secretly, I searched for you
While, mom you were none the wiser
Then you passed away, you were through
I was then like a high riser
looking for you, dad.
I didn't care if I was sad,
or even if I was mad.
All I wanted was to see my father.
I had searched all over the Internet,
for all the families with our surname.
Like six to one half dozen or the other
I was not a gambling man, you can bet
many phone calls and dollars later.
Who could I blame?
I went to school to learn
how and what steps it would take.
How will genealogy help me discern;
not wanting any stone unturned.
The first day of class
my professor asked;
why we were here?
Well, I think...I had a good answer?
She said; see me when class is over
A glimmer of hope arose.
then one day, just before Thanksgiving,
the professor rose...
She said, to the class, with no mis-giving,
there is a student in here
who has been looking
for his father
for over twenty years.
(It had been forty years) oh! brother!
The tears welled up in my eyes
with that lump...you feel inside
She said, Gary, I found your dad
I talked to him, boy, was he surprised!
I said to myself, HE WAS?...
You found him?... He's glad?
My watering eyes were now pouring,
like rain drops streaming
down the window,
like they knew just how to flow.
All I wanted to do, then, was go.
I suddenly imagined...I was a kid again.
With my dad, taking me for a walk,
holding my hand...having a talk.
We had that talk and the pain
dissipated...waned.
by Gary Hodges
Artists Credit: "Angel Of The Cross
Being Engulfed In The Vapors
Of Meta-Mystical Disunion" - by Allen Toney
