Honoring my Dad, Herbert Stone Sr., on Father’s Day 2019

Remembering those indelible moments in time
where all coalesces into a wholeness
of truth, beauty, and goodness

That although brief and scattered
can never be lost or taken from us
and are essential for True Self and authentic being

Like a sleepy child on daddy’s shoulder
on a dark summer’s night under flickering lights
with fireflies flitting and glowing in the grass

Murmuring voices and laughter surrounds you
all the extended family gathered
like a cocoon of radical love and acceptance

Smells of cooking on the firepit fill the night
sweet honeysuckle drifts in the air
daddy’s familiar and comforting smell of home

All is camaraderie among these brothers, sisters,
parents, grandparents, aunts, uncles, cousins,
adults and children of every age joyfully together

In this kin-dom of family relations
where all is good, true, and beautiful this night
a child can rest peacefully on daddy’s shoulder

And many years later remember this moment
of their story feeling loved, at home, belonging
in wholeness, truth, and authenticity; shared with you

Herb Stone
here&now working poetry
June 2019,  Father’s Day

Photo Dad and I circa 1952