A dear friend from whom I had not heard in years called to tell of losing her youngest child in a tragic accident. She asked me to write a poem about her loss. Having never experienced the grief of losing any of my children, or grand children—a fact high up on the lengthy list of blessings I regularly count—and having never written a poem on request before, I found keeping my promise some of the most difficult writing I’ve done. I succeeded in putting myself in her place better than I thought I could because, after receiving it, she said that it was exactly what she had in mind. It was the first poem I wrote that resulted from a coaxed inspiration.
Bert
Few folks remember very clear
The storm of yesterday,
Yet we declare the rainbow dear
That faded fast away;
We seldom note the bush that grows
Beside the garden wall,
Yet, last spring it wore a rose
We vividly recall;
We saw in momentary flight
An eagle in the sky—
Though years ago, that lovely sight
Still thrills our inner eye;
While falling star and setting sun
Bring glory to the skies,
Their splendor has its total run
Before our spellbound eyes;
The dew that makes each morning glow
Has come and gone by noon;
Each matchless flake of falling snow
Dissolves away too soon.
The Rare, the Best, the Unsurpassed,
That make our lives sublime,
All seem to be ordained to last
For much too brief a time;
Perhaps they're here so short a while
Because, from Heaven's Throne,
God sees in them a cause to smile
And claims them as his own.
If this be true, then well I know
My child has found his place
Among delights that cast their glow
Before the Throne of Grace;
And if he brings to Heaven's strand
The joys he brought to me,
His being there will make that land
A place more Heavenly.
Sometime the grief of missing him
Seems more than I can bear;
Sometimes my joys in life grow dim
And hurts seem everywhere;
Yet in these times of deep distress,
A question comes within:
Would life contain more happiness
If he had never been?
In pondering to answer best,
I search and find with ease
Within my heart a treasure chest
Of precious memories;
As one by one I count there worth,
The answer comes to me:
Though few his years, he made this earth
A better place to be;
And suddenly I'm reconciled
That life is still sublime—
Praise God for such a special child!
Though fleeting was his time.