Daddy
By Wyatt H. Heard
[Wyatt H. Heard was a State District Judge in Houston for 21 years. Since 1991, as a lawyer, he has been doing mediations and arbitrations. He lives in Albuquerque.]
There he sat on the
lawn furniture;
With his small portable
radio tuned in on the
baseball game.
The voices of my children
and others filled the air.
He was not the focus of
their attention but
they knew he was there.
Waiting in patience
ready to mentor if needed.
His massive frame and
those huge hands which
in former days used a
rope and an ax,
now simply turned the
dial on his radio.
Three decades ago my
judgment was flawed of him.
That is now in the past
never to be retrieved.
I hope it will give me
pause when my judgment
of someone else is not
tempered with mercy.
These lessons extract a
toll on us, but maybe,
just maybe, compassion
will not only be allowed to
surface but flood all our
cells as we are becoming
something new.
