I Wish Poem by Ishmael Mabhiza

I wish you were here
To see how I've fared in life
And pat my shoulder
To congratulate me.

I wish you were with me
And have seen how I've grown
Into a man with a long beard,
The man with a difference.

Sometimes I feel like
If you were here
Things would be better
Even though you were not rich.

Its better to have you,
Even if we both we didn't have
I wish you were not dead
Talking about my future, with you Dad.

I wish for the father's love
The one of you correcting me
Rebuking me as your son
I wonder what a man
  I could have been with you.

I wish you could come home
Talk 'man jokes' with you
And you telling me your jokes
I could have been a zionist.

Dad, though I am grown
I feel you were not done with me yet
I still need your guidance
When you told me
        we only have one hope
       And that is in God.