Ever Easter

If I knew then what I know now,
I would've told you I loved you and how.
I would've kissed your cheek every day,
I would've laughed your grouchiness away.
I would've learnt, at your hand, the art of cooking,
Instead of saying "Some other day" and not looking.
I would've tried to be the daughter you wanted.
Affectionate and gentle, yet by you not daunted.
I would've put in some serious one-on-one quality time,
Taken you on a trip to the moon, given you reason and rhyme
To be proud of me every single day,
As I transpose your wisdom, doing things my way.
I would've told you how proud I am to be
Your apple, your pearl, your one and only.
Most of all I would've told you,
How much I would be missing you.
For without you now in my life,
It feels much like deep in my gut a knife.
Yet I know you are never very far away,
For you reside within my heart, lodged in my DNA.
All that I am, the graces I've been bestowed,
It's because of you, Dad, to you gratitude is owed.

So if you think me a woman wise, strong and wonderful,
It's just that I've been blessed by my fathers in ways bountiful.
With love unconditional and life everlasting,
I arise each new day to a radiant, Easter morning.