A Tribute

Mother's Day will always mean
Emotions sweet and sour
For the greatest man we'd ever seen
Had lived his final hour

A soldier he was for twenty years
And served his time with pride
Respected among each and all of his peers
And proudly they stood by his side

As a man he taught us many things
Our instincts to trust is but one
As a father he loved us without any strings
And those knots tied will ne'er be undone

His words were unspoken more often than not
Some meanings not clearly conveyed
When I think back he actually said quite a lot
But our hearing was slightly delayed

As a father of six, he took pride in his brood
And to ridicule that was a sin
We dare not annoy him when he's in a bad mood
'Cause the belt hurt and our skin's really thin

His talent was music, jazz, swing and big band
Percussion his forte it seemed
What a sight 'twas to see, drumsticks in his hand
And with us to surround him, he gleamed

We took on his talent, his greatest of gifts
But one son is better than most
The rest of us try, but we play the wrong riffs
Of that fact we don't openly boast

His soul lives forever, in our hearts and our minds
This most loving father of men
We know he is laughing when he hears the kinds
Of things we say now, about then