WHEN APRIL WENT AWAY

Dear
father, i’m sorry for waiting so long to write to you this letter,

At that time i was only seven as you know so i tried hard not to remember.

I was once your son, you were the hero that a boy would not see again in this lifetime,

It all seemed in some ways easier as a child because I could go away, disappear.

Forget about you i did not wish to do and the pain grew as i dreamed this not true,

Did you think of me, while you were going away on your journey that night so long ago?

Are you in heaven watching, listening, or do you ever read my writing of the world,

I think of you often and in a most different way as now i grow older, older than when you went away.

You were no longer there when April went away but i celebrate your birthday as there is only one April day,

On the eleventh of that day you remain the same but if you would have stayed, eighty four would be you.

When April went away I now know that god had his plan, at that time a boy could not understand,

I lost you dad and that changed me forever, I survived and made it through but without you, here i am.

Was it a sacrifice you made that day fore my life took some different roads, god had a plan when April went away.

Keith Garrett