Surely the measure of a man is not to confined

to the quality of his actions

on the battlefields of life, the swift response

to the spectre and dark shadows of looming war

or in how he holds himself when dining out in the company

of a young woman for the first time;

It must be seen above all in the dignity in which he holds

himself aloft when he prepares to say goodbye

to his father for the last time, it is the moment

in which a man becomes a giant.

 

It matters not whether it is prince, pauper

or Lear’s Fool, unseen by all but the King,

when standing at the altar of service and

the dynamic of life suddenly changes,

the man looks different, more noble,

as regret and love find a way to get the giant

through and in which sacrifice of will

is but the start of true heroism.

 

I could not be that heroic,

I could not be the giant that stood there and talk

so lovingly and with purpose of my own dear father,

not because he doesn’t deserve the final “So long slugger”

but because how does a gnat

whisper goodbye to a Goliath?

 

Ian D. Hall 2015