5 Touching Father's Day Poems

Articulating the uniquely special relationship between a father and a child is difficult to do, even for the most loquacious of people. Sometimes, you simply can't pinpoint what you want to say, but these Father's Day poems are here to help you.

The beauty of poetry is that it puts into words feelings you didn't think you could possibly express. For a long time, I had a difficult time reading poems, but the more I have learned to let go of absolutes and embrace the hidden emotions of the lyrical art form, the more and more I've come to enjoy it. Simply put, sometimes it's not what you say, but what you don't say... at least not explicitly.

If you have trouble getting into poetry, try to take a step back and absorb the poem as a whole. Sometimes you have to read in between the lines, and while that can be difficult, the payoff is extraordinary. Think about it this way: If you don't put any work into it, then you're not going to get anything worthwhile out of it. Now on that note, go get your fill of father-inspired quotes from some of the most emotionally-taut poems ever written.

1. "Those Winter Sundays" — Robert Hayden

Sundays too my father got up early and put his clothes on in the blueblack cold, then with cracked hands that ached from labor in the weekday weather made banked fires blaze. No one ever thanked him.

2. "Descriptions Of Heaven And Hell" — Mark Jarman

The wave breaksAnd I’m carried into it.This is hell, I know,Yet my father laughs,Chest-deep, proving I’m wrong.We’re safely rooted,Rocked on his toes.

3. "Working Late" — Louis Simpson

A light is on in my father’s study.“Still up?” he says, and we are silent,looking at the harbor lights,listening to the surfand the creak of coconut boughs.And the light that used to shineat night in my father’s studynow shines as late in mine.

4. "In Her Eyes" — Michelle W. Emerson

The depth of a father's love shows in his daughter's eyesWhat's known is what's shown from sunset to sunriseA foundation built on more than just what is spokenIt's commitments kept and promises that go unbrokenAn emotion so immense that nothing in this world can eraseThe permanent impression of love is tattooed upon her faceA relation so peculiar that only the two can understandYet so immaculate it's obvious that, by God, it was planned.

5. "Father" — Jennifer S. Williams

When I scratched my knee,Or if I bumped my head.When I was afraid of the dark,Or that thing under my bed.When I cried in the night,Or even in the day.You were there for me,To make it all okay.

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