Tag: loss

Susan’s Song

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In Memory of my dear wife’s mother, Susan Simmone, who departed from us to be with Jesus on February 6, 2015

Susan’s Song

Be not there a sullen cryDSC01584
Despairing now for me.
Many wonder why,
Afraid of passing by,
And yet the time is nigh,
For precious memories.

In youth I played and grew
Ne’er missing childhood joy.
Each day was bright and true,
Regrets were but a few,
For my heart was made anew,
By my Savior Jesus Christ.

I lived and laughed with you.002Baby Daphne & Mom
We sang, we worked, we cried.
Ever mindful to imbue,
A love, which was the glue,
Our friendship always knew,
That no one could deride.

T’was then He granted me,
My precious little girl.
And I was blessed to see,
Her grow and love so deeply.
I am so proud of my Daphne,
More than anything in the world.

So be not there a sullen cry
Despairing now for me.
I do not wonder why,
Eternity is mine,
And yet the time is nigh,
For precious memories.

 

What Virgil and Longfellow Can Teach Us About Pain

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“Through pain I’ve learned to comfort suffering men.” Virgil, The Aeneid.
footprints-in-sand1

Sometimes rocky roads can leave us feeling broken and alone, not knowing all the while that they are shaping us to be better men and women for those the Lord puts before us. As Longfellow says:

 

“Footprints, that perhaps another, 
Sailing o’er life’s solemn main, 
A forlorn and shipwrecked brother, 
Seeing, shall take heart again.” Longfellow, A Psalm of Life

Oh Lord, Where were you?

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Oh Lord, Where were you,
When the villains came out,
When the evil afflicted,
And fear led to doubt?
Oh Lord, Where were you,
When they boarded the planes
When children lost parents
And death fell like rain?
Oh Lord, Where were you?
With a gun held high,
He entered the school,
And took their sweet lives.
Oh Lord, Where were you,
In the years of abduction,
While their families awaited,
Any kind of instruction?
Oh Lord, Where were you?
We ask and don’t know,
It shakes our faith,
Amidst fear and woe.
Oh Lord, Where were you?
We assume, Lord of Hosts,
That you were the foe,
Who neglected your post.
Oh Lord, Where were you?
We ask, blind and lost,
We can barely conceive,
The measure of sin’s cost.
Oh Lord, Where were you,
May be the wrong plea,
In this fear stricken world,
Oh Lord, Where were we?
Oh Lord, Where were you?
Surely there at the towers,
Under desks at the school,
Where the victims would cower.
Oh Lord, Where were you?
Always with us within,
Preparing and determining,
When this madness will end.

Broken Jack

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Broken Jack, an unknown man,
Sits at the tavern table.
A weathered sage of former tale,
With memory unstable.

The revelers who drink and play,
About the tavern’s locus,
Know not our seasoned broken Jack,
Quite undeterred in focus.

Broken Jack has no intention,
To make a friend or foe.
His mind is caught in recollection,
Of an unforgivable woe.

He cannot recall his father’s name,
Nor the dwelling of his youth.
He remembers not the catechisms,
Or how many he once knew.

And yet one thing permeates,
And recycles o’er again.
‘Tis a choice he made with Clara Belle,
His love, his life, his friend.

It occurred too many years before,
No way to be exact,
Moot details by comparison,
With how he chose to act.

It came down to him or her,
Built on bricks of good intent.
His ambition, her attention,
Two forces incongruent.

He lost her to malady,
Faint heart succumbed to fever.
Yet in his heart he knew it.
T’was a broken spirit that killed her.

In her last breath it was later told him,
She spoke his name intently.
Upon report he buckled and fell,
Ne’er to recover sanity.

Thus now he stammers from place to place,
Heart toiling in bitter strife,
Recalling the fateful precipice,
Of choice that took her life.