If you get real still,
you can hear it,
the deep warm resonant voice
your childself may still listen for,
a fatherly voice
so moved with affection for you
that you can hear the crinkle around his eyes,
a strong, kind voice lilting with smile.

You can feel the gentle tilt of head
as he tenderly blesses
“I see you.”

If your heart is thirsty to hear it
from a daddy who can’t go back and un-forget you now,
his own woundedness  having already spilled over
into your priceless life,
(hard eyes didn’t see him when he was little,  either),
then listen.

Do you hear it?
A father-whisper
(quiet,  because he doesn’t want to scare you),
deeply touched by what he sees
in you,
his big heart thumping warm acceptance
and tender pride,
for who you are.

You fascinate him,
so sweet on you
he can’t look away.

Maybe just be still
and let him dote on you
for a minute.

Hear?

~ “There you are.  We are intrepid.  We carry on.”
-from Elizabethtown