HIS and HERS

Two parts of a memoir first published in 2012

His Dad

For D. M. S and W. J. S.

A Boy and His Dad

by Edgar Guest

A boy and his dad on a fishing-trip
There is a glorious fellowship!
Father and son and the open sky
And the white clouds lazily drifting by,

And the laughing stream as it runs along
With the clicking reel like a martial song,
And the father teaching the youngster gay
How to land a fish in the sportsman's way.

I fancy I hear them talking there
In an open boat, and the speech is fair.
And the boy is learning the ways of men
From the finest man in his youthful ken.

Kings, to the youngster, cannot compare
With the gentle father who's with him there.
And the greatest mind of the human race
Not for one minute could take his place.

Which is happier, man or boy?
The soul of the father is steeped in joy,
For he's finding out, to his heart's delight,
That his son is fit for the future fight.

He is learning the glorious depths of him,
And the thoughts he thinks and his every whim;
And he shall discover, when night comes on,
How close he has grown to his little son.

A boy and his dad on a fishing-trip—
Builders of life's companionship!
Oh, I envy them, as I see them there
Under the sky in the open air,

For out of the old, old long-ago
Come the summer days that I used to know,
When I learned life's truths from my father's lips
As I shared the joy of his fishing-trips.

Her Daddy

by Ms. 

She didn't 'go-fish' with her giant of a father, except when she could get him to play cards, but he hoisted her up six feet to his shoulders at the much anticipated end-of-week arrivals. She'd never be so tall as in those days long ago when three familiar families joined together, sharing one communal Summer vacation rental.  It was a time when working class wives were home.  Fathers disappeared weekdays into the wider world with it's mysteries never revealed at suppertime.

School closed for three whole months!  It meant freedom, screened in sleeping porches, ice cream cones, beach sand everywhere, waves to plunge through, or lakes to float upon, woods to explore, staying up late, easy board games, drive-in movies in our pajamas, the company of cousins, suddenly permissive adults, space to dream, ocean scenes, shooting stars and fireflies.