I wanna be like my daddy

I wanna be like my daddy,

Go out at a whim,

No questions asked,

Anywhere,

Anytime.

Then come back home,

With a head,

All cleared,

Load shed.

And with a bag of fresh bread.

...................................................................................

I wanna be like my father.

Run a small black comb,

All wet,

Through my silk-soft locks,

Of silvering hair.

There you go,

All set.

Just so.

No sweat,

No bother.

...........

While in the mirror there's a watching daughter

.......................................................................

I wanna be like my daddy,

Smell of soap and Old Spice.

Find the time to look nice.

Look groomed,

All the time.

Shirt pressed,

All the time,

Nails cut teeth brushed shoes buffed,

All the time.

...................................................................

I wanna go for drawn-out walks

Along deserty paths,

In moonlit nights.

No threatening thoughts,

Ever causing me fright.

Like some brave knight.

Just walk. Upright.

in a city that's small as you like,

That's new as you like.

...................................................................

While one little girl,

All wobbly pearls,

All wayward curls,

Tags along on a bike.

And ere too long,

Speeds past,

In a blur.

In a whirl.

....................................................................

I wanna sit at the table,

In my green ribbed gown

Wear black-rimmed specs,

And an earnest frown.

I wanna hold up a pencil,

Just like so.

Have a rubber at the ready,

Just like so.

Draft big-league notes,

For my portfolio.

Then hide them away,

In a bag. Rough. Grey.

From the hands of a rackety princess.

......................................................................

I wanna be like my daddy,

Have a point of view.

One of those Lucky Few.

Own a philosophy,

Have a capacity,

the Gift, to see through,

All the villains,

All the fellons,

of history.

......................................................................

I wanna have a firm faith,

Woven in my brain,

Flowing in my veins.

Have a type of trust,

Totally unshakeable,

Have a kind of creed,

Utterly unbreakable.

Steady.

Solid as Jerusalem's rock.

...........................................................

I wanna be well versed,

In the prophets' tales.

Know all the details.

Like: how vile nails,

Pierced through that man.

Up there. On a cross.

How a whale swallowed whole,

Yonas.

Like so.

In one quick swish,

Of a mighty jaw.

Realized.

Expelled,

Horrified.

........................................................................

How Moses beat

That mean monarch.

Or who was saved

On Noah's ark.

And how our own,

Muhammed,

God bless,

Would pray,

Supplicate,

All night.

All day.

All alone.

In the cave,

In the dark.

........................................................................

I wanna tell those tales,

In the quietest voice.

Urgent.

Taciturn.

Point out the twists,

At every turn.

To my girl,

Angel,

Princess.

R.I.P daddy