American Dad

by Caitlyn G.
9th grade

Hold me close. Tell me how the war goes.
I really want to know.
I probably don’t understand,
But I want to know what it is like
To travel thru dust, bugs, garbage and slime.
 It’s time for me to understand why
You’re gone all the time.

 I tell my friends how brave you are to
 “Go where no man has gone before”.
 I tell my friends,
The people you work with call you an American man,
I call you my American Dad.

 On that cold summer night,
I wished upon a star that you would find your way home.
You were supposed to be back tonight.
 I hear the phone ring,
I run to the stares where she cannot see me,
 So she doesn’t know I’m listening
 My mom has a sad look in her eyes like she is going to cry.
 I run down to her,
  And hug her close.
She tells me that daddy will not be coming home tonight.
 I look at her with confusion in my eye.

 She told me that my American Dad
Had died in a land,
  Far away from where I am.

 They pull the triggers on those guns,
You can hear the pop 20 miles away.
  I try to hold back my tears when they hand me that
   neatly folded up flag
 The solder tell me how much my father did for this land.

My mom gets her flag and cries when she holds it in her hands.
“Then she goes to the stand to reads a poem
 That my dad wrote in the 8th grade”.

It said; “I look in to your pretty eyes
As you take a little glance at me from the side,  
I blow you a fake kiss
As you grab it in the air and push it to your lips.
 My dear love, I love you so much.
You’re prettier than a bundle of roses.
You remind me of an ocean blue.
You don’t know how long I have loved you.
 I want you to know I will always hold you close to my heart,
Even when I get old and die.
 I will still hold you tight. I Love you, my sweet love of sunshine”.

As she folds the poem,
Puts in her pocket, she turns to the family and me.
She speaks with a shake in her voice and says,
"He never really understood how much I would miss him
 When this happened.
I knew going into this,
He would probably not come home safe and alive.
 I will always love him even when he is gone,
I want to say right now while he is listening to me from above how
 Much I wish he could be here to kiss my tears away,
 Tell me how much he loves the way I cry,
And tell me it will all be fine.

My American man
Know that I’m here,
 We will both stay strong just for you. 

Daddy I hold that gold locket you gave me when I was two.
 It has a picture of me and you.
It will always stay with me,
 Always by my heart,
Until the day I die,
My American Daddy good night.