15 June 2008

Fathers' Day Regrets and Redemption

So a few years ago (and by a few I mean 12) I wrote my dad a poem for Father's Day. It's a decision I have regretted pretty much ever since. I was only 16 years old and the poem was sickeningly sentimental, and not very good otherwise. It's an embarrassment, really. I used to write a poem a week back then (it's one of those things that angsty teenagers do) and most of them were embarrassing, but most of them have also been lost in the annals of time. This one hasn't. It's on my uncle's old web page. For years every time I googled myself it was the first thing that came up (this blog has finally bumped it down to my #2 slot.) A couple of times, it's even come up on other people's web pages! Of all the things I've done in my life, this poem has to be the one thing that gets spread around the Internet! (if only a little.) Well, I decided it's time for some redemption.

This year I've written my dad a new Father's Day poem. I like it better, and hopefully it won't be an embarrassment to be for the next 12 years. Here it is:

Dear Dad, imagine a colorful box adorned with a tidy bow.
Inside you'll find my gift to you: a violet sombrero.
The color will give you elegance and the shape will lend some show,
So I hope you're not afraid to wear this violet sombrero.
It will shield you from the sun and warm you in the snow.
It's not without practicalities, your violet sombrero,
But mostly I want all to note this excellent man I know:
That's my dad - the Mighty One! - in the violet sombrero.



3 comments:

Sarah McBride said...

ok you do realize that I immediately googled your name and found your old poem.

I can totally see your dad in a violet sombrero!!
great poem.

Kristina said...

i also googled your poem. and then, surprised that the first 7 hits were things that actually had to do with the denice hurbut i knew, i googled my name and found, to my dismay, that I do not exist.

I loved your sombrero poem by the way. I hope you actually do buy him one some time.

Dan said...

of course, i googled your name as well and read your old father's day poem. what did you think people were going to do? and then, like kristina i googled my own name and found that i am a drop in the ocean that is daniel mcbride. *sigh*