Never Too Late (poem) by Sue Hess on AuthorsDen

Never Too Late
by Sue Hess → (All Poetry by Sue Hess)

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Hi, I’m not sure I’m at the right house Bob? Bob Clark? I feel so silly, I don’t know what to say now I’m Sarah, yes, that Sarah I hope you don’t mind… No please don’t hug me, I need to get used to this No thank you, I really don’t want to come in I know it’s silly, I came 3000 miles to see you And now I don’t know whether to be afraid of you or not I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to hurt your feelings Could we sit out here, the garden is lovely You did? I have a green thumb myself Mom always said I didn’t get it from her No, she doesn’t know I’m here That’s okay, you don’t need to call her You see, I guess you’d have no way of knowing but Mom died two weeks ago Lung cancer, we found out a few months back And then… No thank you I have tissue Then two weeks ago she died and I found out about you Oh yes, I knew you were my father I have a picture, I knew your name See, mom told me you had died when I was a baby The letters? I found them when I went through her things They weren’t opened, I opened them They were addressed to me I’ve been reading them for the last week One letter a month for 17 years See I have them here in my suitcase I wondered, there was a gap back in 98 That’s right, three months Desert Storm, no I didn’t know Are you okay now Of course, I didn’t know you stayed in the service I didn’t know you were alive I used to watch the other girls run to their dads After a soccer game I would stall putting my equipment away Anything to keep them from seeing me cry There were so many times I needed a dad so bad Father and Daughter banquets, learning To drive, no' she never learned The worst night I can remember Prom night, mom was already sick, hadn’t been Out of bed in weeks And I wanted someone so bad to tell me how Pretty I looked, to be home at A reasonable hour I knew mom wouldn’t live much longer And I was so scared No she left me plenty, it wasn’t money I’ve just never been alone Here, take some of my tissue I’m sorry I made you cry, I seem to do it all The time lately No, it doesn’t matter who was at fault It was a long time ago But why did she cheat me out of all those years Why did she lie to me? Bitter, why was she bitter, I was the one Who grew up without you No she never married again I always thought she was still grieving for you I guess not Please, don’t cry, let’s not waste any more time Being unhappy There is so much I want to tell you So much I want to know And uh, if its okay Maybe I would like something to drink Iced tea would be great Let me come help you with it No, I’m not afraid To come inside anymore… Dad