The Dad I Never Knew

This is dedicated to the memory of William Wilson Wible, the "Dad I Never Knew." In my childhood, there were certain circumstances that took Dad out of my life. I did not see him again until I was in my 40s. I met him really only a few times, but I got to know his other children and to appreciate especially my brother, David. On the occasion of Dad's funeral, I penned the following poem entitled, "The Dad I Never Knew."

The Dad I never knew, you see,

He must have been a Man.

“To obvious,” you say? Then,

I’ll explain it if I can.

Some shades of men are lily-white,

While others, kudzu-strong.

Nine to five is good enough,

Yet others know that’s wrong.

A Man has mitts with fingernails,

That stain their tea-glass black.

Men put lotion on their hands,

And powder down their back.

The Dad I never you, oh, oh,

Was surely one of These,

Rather never one of those,

Who always tried to please.

No matter what the issue was,

He’d take a stand and stay,

There, on that spot he’d carved,

Until his final Day.

 

“How,” you ask, “how could I know,

The Dad I never knew?”

I’ve seen him in the face of Them,

The ones who loved him true.

Men are Loved, while men are liked,

Tho’ it’s not eas’ly thought;

It does not ‘twine around one’s brain,

It’s more quickly caught –

By seeing what their life has made,

The children they have sired;

And what a legacy is left,

When they are old and tired.

I’ve seen his passed-down progeny,

And watched the jobs they’ve done;

The hours given in bright daylight,

Or past the setting sun.

The Dad I never knew, you see,

I knew him after all.

“He lives this day, yet past his Day,”

You mark it on the wall.

The Dad I never knew, oh, oh,

He surely was a Man;

And I will be a Man some day,

Just like him if I can.