Three Ways of Looking at a Father
Dead these many years,
Dad's still there for me
every day, pointing
from a star
toward excellence,
the goal we shared.
I missed two free throws once
at the end of a high school game
and we lost by a point.
On the way home
after the game, he said,
"Why did you miss
those free throws?"
Years later in college
I came home with all A's
and one B. I showed him
my grades and he said,
over his newspaper,
"Why did you get the B?"
After graduation I was thinking
about getting married but I
wasn't certain. So I asked him
what did he think. Once again
he was there for me.
Sipping his tea, he said
"You asked the girl, right?
Follow through."
Donal Mahoney lives in St. Louis, Missouri.
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