I love you dad though you’re not here
You’re up there now in heaven
I wish we could have understood
But I was only two and seven

I forgive you for your drinking dad
You could not fight the disease
Your dad was a drinker too
But how we prayed Lord, please

Please don’t let daddy drink any more
Don’t let him hit our mother
Please just make him go away
He’s upsetting my sisters and brothers

You became a different person
When you would take a drink
We didn’t know what we should do
We didn't know what to think

I forgive you too for loving that lady
And putting us in a home
And for hardly ever visiting us
When we felt so all alone

Seven little kids abandoned there
The nuns didn’t even care
How much we cried or if we died
How could you leave us there?

We cried for days, we couldn’t eat
We were separated from our brothers
The statues used to scare us so
We hid beneath the covers

We were too young to understand
How drinking took control
After five long years mom came through
And saved our very souls

As we grew up we learned that you
Were twice a Navy hero
You volunteered and saved some lives
You weren’t a great big zero

When you got sick and you were told
That you were going to die
You weren’t afraid…you were so brave
How often I would cry

I knew you finally forgave yourself
Just as we had to learn to do
And you accepted Jesus
Dear dad, I love and forgive you

Melodye F Johnson
Copyright ^© August 12, 2001