Dear Father......

It has been one year today
That your great and beautiful spirit
Left your body
Here on earth
And traveled to the other shore
Left us, who know you so
To go to those others
Who know you  
Our lives without you here
Forever altered
And that other place
Forever altered
Now that you are there

What is a year in time, in a life?
It seems less than a second
How can you have been gone from us
So many, many days?
And it feels no time has passed
As if nothing happened
As if you are still here
And yet you are gone
But yet, you are not gone - at all

Since your departure
I have felt so adrift
Like a vessel out at sea
A wave dancer
Drifting a long the shore
Seeing the land
But having no way - to get back
Not even certain
I want to get back
Because everything has changed
And is unfamiliar

Yet - I am alive and glad for my life
Each day I awake to see the sky
I love all my family as always
And all my earthly connections
But every word and smile and thought and gesture and step
Is so different
There is an echo
A shadow
A memory of you

I am dancing, working and gardening
All of your talented children
And grandchildren
Are thriving
We all carry you with us
Every day
And miss you
Your voice of knowing us
Your voice of knowing everything
Your voice of love and friendship and comfort
Of inspiration and guidance
And also of torture
Yes that too
The sadness and loneliness and pain
The confusion and complication of knowing you
We miss all of you
All of you we never had enough of
Because there was so much.

Yes Dad, we miss our amazing father
We wonder where you are now
Do you miss us too?
Are you with us every day?
We like to think so.
We wonder always
But mostly - you know - we bless you
And we bless Mom
For your joining together
For bringing us into this world
For this journey
And we bless each other
For being part of this family
And for being here on earth together
To share our love of each other
And of our children

Dear Father,
Dear Dad
We bless you
We miss you
We love you
We thank you

We are here 
And so are you…………………………….

From my dancing heart to yours