Happy Birthday My Father

Happy Birthday my dear Father, born December Twenty-Fifth;
The son of Jewish immigrants, a belated Chanukah gift!
You were taught to speak two languages, Yiddish and English too;
Being raised in Philadelphia, many “Landsmen” lived by you!
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You mind was very brilliant, but at fourteen, you dropped out of school;
Hawking papers to support the family, the Depression very cruel!
Two years later, very streetwise, you started buying jewelry and scrap gold;
Progressing into old x-ray film, which hospitals eventually sold!
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You made a ton of money, ten times what most men earned;
You met and married my show-biz Mother, pure passion in both you burned!
But your lives soon took a detour, with the outbreak of World War Two;
You were fortunate and stayed stateside, one of the very lucky few!
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Then you became a sales rep, selling women’s apparel to major stores;
In ten years you were a legend, no salesman in the U.S. earning more!
Every Christmas, we’d have an open house, with lots of food, booze and friends;
If only I could go back in time, and be with you today again!
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Happy Birthday Dad
Today I will visit your grave
Wishing you were here