Love PAD 14-1

 Dad, You Didn’t Have to Say, “I love you.”

 

I knew, by the way you worked hard in the steel mill

and in the garden to put food on the table.

By the way you let me sit on your lap

and showed you how I could count to 100.

By the way you read me stories in your monotone.

By the way you taught me how to fish.

But the way you teased me by doing things

like putting orange peelings between my toes.

By the way you hollered

when I was doing something wrong.

By the way you put up with my teasing you

about being bald or grumpy.

By the way you wore a pained expression

when I broke up with my first serious boyfriend.

By the way you walked me down the aisle

even after a recent surgery.

By the way you cried

when we had to return home from a visit.

You never said the words,

but you didn’t have to.