Poem – I Tried

I wrote this many years ago after my Dad died. I kept setting a place for him at dinner and each time it broke my heart. I hope you like it.

I Tried

I set a place for you at dinner time,
Over and over I wonder when you’ll phone…
We’re the ‘live ones’ not yet resigned
To the fact you’re never coming home.
The children play with their shabby toys,
I sit and wonder whether you are near.
I want to call you above their noise,
Then they ask the question I so feared.
“Where’s Grampy?”
Tell me, Dad… should I have lied?
Hidden the truth from their eyes?
Maybe it heals to say “He has died.”
Maybe not…
but I tried.