Gifts I Have Been Given

Each time I have been challenged by lifes inevitabilities

I have somehow managed, through the grace of smiling angels

To receive more than was taken, 

And then doubling the gifts I have been given

by passing on the secrets of these precious lesson learned

Through my scribblings on a page.

  

I am not sure if I was taught this or if I dumbly stumbled upon it

But as sure as morning follows night 

I have been blessed with half filled cups that never empty.

I know that you will find this strange 

coming from the lips of someone orphaned

at an early age and now widowed decades too soon

But I am the son of a father who was a man for all seasons

And whose values I still cherish 

He mastered the arts, and sciences of his times

And loved to laugh at life absurdities 

He passed on to me a legacy of unquenchable curiosity.

 

My grandmother, mother and sister shared lessons in humanity

 and to always care for others above oneself

I learned that one must work at Tikun Olam, repairing the world. 

I have spent the last half century doing just that in my small way. 

And from my bride, the gifts of a lifetime, 

the dark clouds I carried in my youth were blown away

by her love of life, her love of me, and her joyous laughter at the antics of our fellow primates.

Together we were able to fashion two sons who gave us new opportunities

to love, to learn, and to grow and they have given us

little versions of themselves

even more perfect than those generations who came before them. 

So although I stand alone and without their present company, 

I feel for those who have never shared their wisdom, their love, and adoration 

And even though those times were short, I lengthen them 

by making new memories of the times we spent together

 and by passing on to you the stories of their presence and the wondrous gifts

Gifts they gave to me and that I now bequeath to you.