Daddy’s Gone

Daddy’s Gone

(In memory of Harrison Alsip)

I went to see my Daddy one day,

He wasn’t there, he’d gone away.

Where he’d gone, I could not go,

What he thought, I could not know.

Though his body still lived here,

His mind was only sometimes near.

Fleetingly, he would recall

Then suddenly, forget it all.

At times he’d strike out violently,

He fought an unseen enemy.

I saw him leave me, day-by-day,

But I could only watch – and pray.

At first, I prayed that he’d return,

But that was not to be, I learned.

My Daddy was now lost to me,

I prayed and asked, “How could this be?”

Then came the call, late one night,

Daddy was ill, I must hold on tight.

We rushed to the hospital, Mom and I,

The doctor said that my Daddy could die.

He stayed with us for one more night,

And then, my Daddy won the fight.

My prayers were answered faithfully,

In just the way I prayed they’d be.

God lovingly took Daddy home,

In Heaven’s gardens he now roams.

In gardens far beyond compare,

My Daddy waits to greet us there.

Shirley Healy (4/3/98)

The story behind “Daddy’s Gone”

She called him, “Daddy,” and one day she held her daddy’s hand to say goodbye, as Alzheimer’s took him where she could not follow. I listened as my dear friend tearfully described the agony of being unable to communicate with her beloved Daddy. She talked about the helplessness of being unable to reach him, and unable to help him when he would strike out at an unseen enemy. We all prayed for the peace of the Lord to enfold him, and eventually he was taken to an environment that could protect him.

Then, just a short time later, my friend and her mother were called to the hospital. Her Daddy was dying from unexpected internal bleeding, and she held his hand to say goodbye as he went to be with the Lord. I wanted so much to comfort this precious family and prayed for the words to speak to them. The words came as I prayed and and I tearfully read it to my friend. We cried together and she cherishes this poem still today. I often read it myself, praying for all who suffer from the torment of Alzheimer’s.