Poem: My Old Daddy

Remembering the man by bits and pieces.

My Old Daddy My old daddy used to say     get ‘em young     treat ‘em rough     and tell ‘em nothing And so how did this philosophy     work out for him? Married thirty-seven years     to a beautiful woman,     with such a strong sense of balance     that, without ever a demeaning word,     she caused him now and then to pull up short So aware of his unresolved self-conflict     that I’m not sure he ever recovered Books could be written on that     and perhaps will be But he was a man of such sayings,     always delivered with a wink And what the hell do I make of that?

This poem is included in Jim Freeman's poetry collection THE SMELL OF TWEED AND TOBACCO available here in print or as an e-Book in your favorite formats.