Treading in the Steps of the Greats

Treading in the Steps of the Greats

A Poem by Tate Morgan
"

"Good Night Dad"

"
Grandpa Ed and my father Ed Jr
Grandpa Ed and My Father Eddie Jr.


Looking back to my eighteenth year


sitting with gramps in the grandstand


He looked at me, said " listen son


life seldom goes as we planned"




"See your father out on the track


coming 'round in the post parade


You should be proud of him you know


for all the dues that he has paid"




"If you'd said fifteen years ago


that he was the cream of the crop


I'd beat you down, there on the ground


leaving your a*s on the blacktop"





"Not many get knocked down in life


then rise to the top of the hill


As life exacts a price you see


from those willing to pay that bill"





Years later we stood by his grave


my father, my brothers and I


Gramps hadn't shared this forgiveness


before he had to say goodbye





I passed that story to my dad


whose eyes said he understood


For as a man, it was my plan


to help ease his pain if I could





Then when my own father passed


I stood there holding his ashes


About to pour, across the floor


of the track that saw our clashes




In that one defining moment

I whispered a prayer to the Fates

"Please forgive the sins of my youth"

treading in the steps of the Greats













© 2021 Tate Morgan


Author's Note

Tate Morgan
When my father was young he gave my grandfather bloody fits. I know how he regretted it later. As he was so hard on me for fear that I too would take that road. He said to me "Son you scare me to death. Of all my children you are the one that keeps me up at night. I see myself in you and it scares me. Just because you are fearless doesn't mean you are immortal." I came to find he was right. I do not know what drives young men to temp the will of unkind fates. However I lived to tell the tales and my son now is doing the same to me. So there is justice. Last month he came home on a motorcycle to tell me he was tired of just existing and wanted to live a little. He wants to have adventures as I have had. God is paying me back for the sleepless nights I dealt my own father.
When my own father passed a year ago we poured his ashes across the race track where his life began and his race ended. Miss ya dad!

My Review

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Featured Review

Brilliant writing and poignant backstory told in your Author’s Note. Such a raw and personal family chronicle...the volatile give and take from fathers to sons, relived...Perfection in form, flow, cadence, rhyme, imagery, allegory. Superb, nostalgic family picture. You are a wise man. Thank you so much for the excellent poetic invitation to share your life. Bravo!

Posted 6 Years Ago


1 of 1 people found this review constructive.

Tate Morgan

6 Years Ago

Hi Annette thank you so much Nice to see you today



Reviews

Young people have a hard time understanding those men cut from the cloth of hard times.
But here in this poem they can get a glimpse of those that lived and they that followed.

Posted 5 Years Ago


Tate Morgan

5 Years Ago

Beautiful rendering of what I was trying to portray . Thank you Cherrie
We seem to frustrate our parents and get dealt the same blow in our own children. Wonderful tribute.

Posted 5 Years Ago


Tate Morgan

5 Years Ago

Thank you valarie
Some lovely use of words ...'gramps in the grandstand', 'cream of the crop', 'about to pour, across the floor', 'for as a man, it was my plan'. I think many will identify with this relationship between fathers and sons. The last verse is very profound. But we must remember to forgive ourself too. It is impossible to be the perfect person

Posted 5 Years Ago


Tate Morgan

5 Years Ago

Thank you astri it is a very personal work
Wow you are so cruel. Your writing seriously makes others cry, in a good way of course. I was so happy I came upon this piece or rather a "masterpiece" of art. So full of emotions and grimly-gay narration your poem is inspiration and overwhelming. Such poetry is seen rarely. Please write more works like this. I literally beg of you.

Posted 5 Years Ago


Tate Morgan

5 Years Ago

Shubham Thank you. I hope you find all my works to be so gratifying. Im honored.
Beautiful, loved every bit of it. Thank you for sharing.

Posted 5 Years Ago


Tate Morgan

5 Years Ago

Thank you so
Much
Beautiful personal piece, really enjoyed reading this, shows how generations go by from a son becoming a father and having the realisation of what the father dealt with.

Posted 6 Years Ago


Tate Morgan

6 Years Ago

thank you sarah Yeah It is sure a different feeling to become the parent
Tate, I have come to realize this experience is legion for young men and their fathers. I wonder if a grand fathers raison d' etre, the instructions in the small print, opened late in life is that of interpreter.

My life with my father is found in "I Thought"

Thanks for this elegant memory.

Posted 6 Years Ago


Tate Morgan

6 Years Ago

Thank you Allen I wish men in my own family as well as others had been taught to master emotions. I .. read more
AllenS

6 Years Ago

I agree, and wonder if it is not this lack of facility with articulation of one's emotional life tha.. read more
Tate Morgan

6 Years Ago

Oh yeah my father mastered only one emotion anger he just assumed I would understand
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BBP
Really enjoyed this read. The girttiness yet soft side of your Gramps and how everything goes full circle and you learned from it! :)

Beautiful.

Posted 6 Years Ago


Tate Morgan

6 Years Ago

Hi kiddo . I learn best the hard way.Men are strange you learn from a grandpa what your father wont .. read more
BBP

6 Years Ago

So very true!

Wise words: The smart man learns from his mistakes While the wise ma.. read more
Hi Taters :-) what a moving poem!..AHH fathers and sons. Daughters can be difficult too :-) funny how maturity changes your perspective..as a wild child myself..boy did my daughters get back at me! Formatting is nice,, easy peasy flow from start to finish. A great read. :-)

Posted 6 Years Ago


Tate Morgan

6 Years Ago

Hi Susan thank you I had my days of drama with my daughters as well

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7157 Views
75 Reviews
Shelved in 2 Libraries
Added on August 9, 2016
Last Updated on April 8, 2021

Author

Tate Morgan
Tate Morgan

Marion , OH



About
Available from Amazon XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX I am a product of the Midwest. Raised on the plain states of North America. I was nurtured on a .. more..

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