For fathers who are no longer with us on Father's Day

To Those I Love
If I should ever leave you whom I love
To go along the Silent Way, grieve not,
Nor speak of me with tears, but laugh and talk
Of me as if I were beside you there.
(I'd come-- I'd come, could I but find a way!
But would not tears and grief be barriers?)
And when you hear a song or see a bird
I loved, please do not let the thought of me
Be sad... for I am loving you just as
I always have... You were so good to me!
There are so many things I wanted still
To do-- so many things to say to you...
Remember that I did not fear... It was
Just leaving you that was so hard to face...
We cannot see beyond... But this I know:
I loved you so-- 'twas heaven here with you!
~ Isla Paschal Richardson