I have found your poem. Its title is "Daddy's Day." The poem was
actually written by Cheryl Costello-Forshey long before the events of
9/11. Since the poem is under copyright, I am not posting it here, but
the links below will take you to three sites that have reproduced it
online:
Jesus Loves You Ministries
http://jlym.com/Inspirations/TrueLife/daddysgirl.htm
Smiley Poetry Archive
http://smiley00.tripod.com/poem530.html
Wren's World
http://www.wrensworld.com/daddysday.htm
Here's an excerpt from Snopes.com's account of the poem's history on
the Internet and before:
"The poem 'Daddy's Day' is the work of Cheryl Costello-Forshey. It has
appeared in Chicken Soup for the Parent's Soul and Stories for a
Teen's Heart (book 2), the one published a year before the terrorist
attacks of 11 September 2001, and the other a couple of months prior.
Likely lifted from one of those two sources, the piece was loosed upon
the Internet as 'A Little Girl's Poem,' 'Daddy's Pink Rose' or just
'Pink Rose,' sometimes bearing an attribution of Leonard J. Bourret.
The addition of the following stanza that transformed the departed
daddy into a fireman who died in the collapse of the World Trade
Center towers causes many to assume the poem was penned in response to
that tragedy:
You see he was a fireman
and died just this past year
When airplanes hit the towers
and taught Americans to fear.
Yet it wasn't. According to its true author, Cheryl Costello-Forshey:
Daddy's Day was written because of a little girl in my life whose
father was not a fireman, but who died unexpectedly... Daddy's Day
wasn't intended exclusively for the children of firemen, but for all
children who have lost a daddy, and especially for one special little
girl in my life."
Snopes.com
http://www.snopes.com/glurge/daddy.htm
Here you can read Cheryl Costello-Forshey's own account of how her
poem was plagiarized and altered, against her will:
Wren's World
http://www.wrensworld.com/firemansdaughter.htm
Google Web Search: "but heaven is just too far"
://www.google.com/search?hl=en&ie=UTF-8&oe=UTF-8&q=%22but+heaven+is+just+too+far
Thank you very much for asking this question. I had never seen the
poem, which (regardless of whether or not it was specifically writted
as a 9/11 tribute) is quite moving in its simplicity.
If anything is unclear, or if a link does not work for you, please
request clarification; I'll be glad to offer further assistance before
you rate my answer.
Best wishes,
pinkfreud |