My Father's Laughter

My father's laughter touched us all

None of our family was immune,

When he was bright the children danced

Under the waxing autumn moon.

But work and fear of poverty

Drove him to exceed his strength

As he pushed us well beyond our scope

In seasons of unendurable length.

We toiled in heat and freezing cold

And with the greening earth were one

Shovel, hoe and pick to us

Familiar as the wind and sun.

The grading rakes, aluminium,

Blackened our sore and callused hands

But youth and freedom suffered most.

The burning muscles heated strands

Persisted throbbing through the night

Momentarily relieved

By showers hot as we could stand

If youth's remembrance is believed.

But how we loved this driven soul,

The body's complaints pushed aside,

No sacrifice too great for him

And nothing could shake his children's pride.

Now in the autumn of my years

These highlight reels of memory

Are filled with scenes of childhood joy

In crystal streams and icy seas.