I am my father's son

For Kent Rohe, Jackson Andrew and Peter Melvin Paul

I am my father’s son, the saying goes.
Precisely what that means,
I never did quite know.

How right, though, to so describe
The man who leads and shapes
Your days, your heart, your tribe.

My honorific, to be sure
That he would embrace
This bond so deep and pure.

Yet, here the imagination strains--
This laurel he wins
When my sonship he gains?

For how, as son, don't I spurn
This birthright grander
Than any I could earn?

And what, as father, is he pondering
That he might have done
To keep me from manhood wandering.

So when I stop to reflect,
My own fathering blossoms
In knowing him imperfect.

Finally, I see, when my race is run
I hope my boys--become men--will delight to say
I am my father’s son.