My Daddy's Eyes

My Daddy's eyes with a tint of blue could peer over
his glasses and make you do what he wanted you to.
Sometimes scary and harsh but most of all
funny, whimsical and filled with love.

Daddy's hands and arms were as strong as could be,
chopping wood and hugging like a bear could do.
His arm had a tattoo yielding a heart saying "love" too.

Daddy's feet had travelled far and wide.
Taking him places only to be talked of with pride.
His Kentucky home, England, Germany, Czechoslovakia,
then settling in NJ to hide.

Left school in the fourth grade to help the family.
In the coal mines, then to the Conservation Core,
that led him to the Army for WWII.
Things he wouldn't talk of,
only a tear,
would slowly creep down his chin
that was usually in a grin.

He lived and died as he wanted to,
with his diabetic hand clutching a candy bar.
Tasting all the sweetness that life could bring.
Showing his family what could be done,
with strength, perseverance and trusting God.

I have not seen all that he had seen,
but he let me see by his heart & stories I can repeat.
To show what a wonderful man he was,
to my children and grandchildren for them to repeat.

All truths are easy to understand once they are discovered; the point is to discover them.
Galileo Galilei (1564 - 1642)