Father (in memory of my father in law)

The tree magnificent that grew

Into the one

I call my father

His roots ran deep

Connecting to the past

Ancestors from the dessert

A holy family

He grew

At first a young sapling

His strength

From the forest of his family did he draw

Time was at first kind

Strong did he emerge

And fruits did he bear

His journey 

A life

Of difficult choices made

In each challenge 

The roots grew stronger

The trunk wider it became

A son, a brother, a doctor, a husband, a father

Powerful and tall the tree rose

Dominating oft times

But nurturing the precious fruit it bore

And from that fruit 

Four saplings they came

And upon their father

Did they depend

But as the sun set

Time drew near

Thus from powerful might

The strong did wither

Now the tree has died

Into the ground returned

But gone has it not from this land

For around it now rise

Four more in its place

Separately they grow

But from the same root they rise

An origin intertwined

Continuing the story

Of my father