Poetry

• A Boy and His Dad by Edgar Guest
  

  A boy and his dad on a fishing-trip—
  There is a glorious fellowship!
  Father and son and the open sky
  And the white clouds lazily drifting by,
  And the laughing stream as it runs along
  With the clicking reel like a martial song,
  And the father teaching the youngster gay
  How to land a fish in the sportsman’s way.

  I fancy I hear them talking there
  In an open boat, and the speech is fair.
  And the boy is learning the ways of men
  From the finest man in his youthful ken.
  Kings, to the youngster, cannot compare
  With the gentle father who’s with him there.
  And the greatest mind of the human race
  Not for one minute could take his place.

• Father’s Song by Gregory Orr
  

  Yesterday, against admonishment,
  my daughter balanced on the couch back,
  fell and cut her mouth.

  Because I saw it happen I knew
  she was not hurt, and yet
  a child’s blood so red
  it stops a father’s heart.

  My daughter
  cried her tears;
  I held some ice
  against her lip.
  That was the end of it.

  Round and round: bow and kiss.
  I try to teach her caution;
  she tries to teach me risk.