Father to Son
From Basel Al-Aswad to his daughters and to his son, Father’s Day 2013:
On this Father’s Day, I love you, Mandy & Susan, and I miss you Chris. You always came to Chicago to visit me. This time I was at your home in Normal, then paid you a visit at your resting place in Oak Brook.
Met your buddy John there, and he sent me this quotation from your favorite poet:
What though the radiance which was once so bright
Be now for ever taken from my sight,
Though nothing can bring back the hour
Of splendor in the grass, of glory in the flower;
We will grieve not, rather find
Strength in what remains behind;
In the primal sympathy
Which having been must ever be;
In the soothing thoughts that spring
Out of human suffering;
In the faith that looks through death,
In years that bring the philosophic mind.
–William Wordsworth, from the Ode on Intimations of Immortality from Recollections of Early Childhood
with Primavera, by Alison Jardine (who is also here in the EIL Store)
Basel, my friend,
Your fatherly love for your children lengthens and and reaches out to bless the world as you find strength in what remains behind. Thank you for allowing me to be a part of your story
Wow! What a beautiful piece of writing and so appropriate for this dedication