#sadness
IN THE ANGEL'S ARMS
So many questions in this world we cannot answer…
No one can tell us why…
Why do tragedies happen everyday?
Why do children have to die?
This is the story of one child…
I wish I was singing a happier tune
but this child’s story is over…it ended much too soon.
She did not enter this world peacefully…although her birth was a joyous day
there were complications from the beginning…and more obstacles along the way.
Her story ended a few days ago…at least now she’s out of harm…
She has a place in heaven…she’s in the angel’s arms.
Her parents handled each setback with dignity…with courage…and with grace….
as they tried to cope with the kind of heartache no family should face.
There were trips to hospitals and surgeries…so much going on inside her
and her parents shared her pain and suffering as they stood stoically beside her.
It is a testament to their love…that as they suffered through the haze…
in the midst of all their sorrow…they found joy in other ways
For they loved their little daughter…that was plain for all to see
and they did the best they could to give her life some harmony.
I hope as the years go by…when they stop
when they pause a while…
they will remember more of the joy than the suffering…
and when they think of her…
they’ll smile.
Perhaps one day their questions will be answered…
when they join their daughter…out of harm
when they hold her again heaven…
when they’re together…
in the angel’s’ arms.
THAT'S WHAT DADDY WOULD HAVE WANTED
WHAT DADDY WOULD HAVE WANTED
A teacher found a weathered copy of her poem…
And immediately reminisced…
for never had he read a poem…as sad or beautiful as this:
“I want you all to write a love poem,” He told his class,
“For love is beautiful…and grand…”
when he was interrupted by a student…who quickly raised her hand.
“My daddy was killed by a crazy person with a gun.” she said.
“How can I contemplate…
words of love and joy…
when I’m filled with so much hate?”
He had anticipated many questions…but this one…he never guessed…
He walked over, put his arms around her…and hugged her to his chest.
“When hate is all around us”, he said…”when bullets rain down from above…
That is the time we must fight hate…and search for words of love.”
“Look into your heart.” he said, ‘words of love are waiting there
words of love you will discover…words of love you’ll want to share.”
He returned to his desk amid silence…and during the interlude
the class all wrote their poems…in a quiet solitude…
He wasn’t sure what to expect until that night at home
when he came to her assignment entitled…
This Is My Love Poem
My daddy used to talk about love…before he’d turn off my light…
He said love is a wonderful way to start the day…and the best way to say goodnight.
So I will try everyday to think in words of love…no matter what my fate
hoping the words of love I find…will overcome my hate…
I hope someday to discover the love I’m searching for…
For hate has won this battle…but I won’t let it win the war.
Perhaps if words of love, instead of bullets, were falling from the sky
then love would finally vanquish hate…and no more Daddies would have to die.
Yes, hate has left me with a scar and my dreams will be forever haunted…
but I promise to try and look for love, because…
that’s what Daddy would have wanted.
TEARS
I saw a tear escape her eye…
when she whispered out his name
and I remember thinking why…
and wondering what tragedy she overcame.
She suffered a loss I did not know…
a loss she couldn’t disguise
It happened a long time ago…
I could see it in her eyes.
I imagine a tear is how our heart speaks
when we can’t find words to explain
when a memory has made us weak…
when we’re overcome with pain.
I wonder when we hold back our tears…
suppress even one teardrop
If it’s because we have a hidden fear…
once they start…our tears won’t stop.
That once the dam is broken…
and our tears start falling down
a terror goes unspoken…
that in our own tears…we will drown.
For suffering sometimes fall like rain…
a word, a smell, a thought can bring it on
and we’re reminded by our pain
how grief is not a sprint but a marathon.
Perhaps that’s why we have an ocean of tears…
for in any dark days we have ahead
when a memory stirs and grief appears
we’ll have unending tears to shed.
I wonder…how many of us harbor a fear
that at the end of any minute…any day
a relentless stream of our own tears
are but one memory away?
At the time I offered her a smile…
to give her strength for a sadness I’ve never known
knowing all the while
some griefs we’re meant to bear alone.
THE WEEPING WILLOW TREE
They found the owl…this morning…”Look!” the young boy said.
On the street in front of their house…a little owl was dead.
“What are we going to do?” the boy asked as he got down on one knee.
“We’re going to take a walk”, Dad said, “to the weeping willow tree.”
He reached down and picked up the owl…as gently as could be
then they walked down to the lake and sat under the willow tree.
“It’s time you learned this tree’s secret.” Dad whispered. “Shhhh…don’t make a peep
It is only in the silence one can hear the willow weep.”
The son’s face beamed when he finally heard it and he asked his father…”Why?
Why is this tree so sad…what makes the willow cry?”
When we feel pain or sorrow, when we’re hurt or when someone we know dies….”
“These are some of the reason”, Dad said, “some of the reasons why we cry.
"But when a rock or tree or a little owl dies…who is there to moan?”
“Who is there to weep when parts of nature die alone?"
“That is where the willow comes in…with this job she has been blessed.”
“While we weep for those we know and love…she weeps for all the rest.”
“When a tree falls in the forest, when a baby owlet dies,
when a rivers dries up or a star stops shining…this is when the willow cries.”
So the little boy and his dad picked up the owl…as gently as can be
and buried her in silence…under the shade of that willow tree.
“She will be well protected here.” Dad said. “our promise to nature has been kept.”
and in the silence of that moment…
they joined with the willow
while she wept.
WHEN SOMEONE WE KNOW DIES
There is no cure for the sorrow we feel
(It’s one reason that we cry)
no antidote for the pain
when someone we know dies.
We immediately wonder why her…why now…
how we would have loved just one more day
one more moment…
one more memory
when someone we know passes away…
Our mind flashes back to certain moments…
wonderful memories we linger on
as the joy we feel for having known her
mixes with the sadness that she’s gone.
Our memory happily jumps back and forth.
We give thanks she was ever sent to us
and we hope and pray she understood
everything she ever meant to us.
We couldn’t have created a better friend
If we had planted seeds ourselves then grown her
and we know our lives will never be the same
and we are better people…having known her.
So we are content to grieve a moment…
knowing in our hearts she wouldn’t mind…
knowing the sadness we feel today
will acquiesce to the joy she left behind…
Yes, today we’ll allow sorrow to envelop us
we’ll linger in our tears a while
knowing in the future
every time we think of her
with every memory…
we’ll smile.
THE SADNESS GOES AWAY
His son came to him with tears in his eyes…he was crying…
both of them were sad
His son had lost his Grandpa…and he had lost his dad.
“What am I going to do?” his son asked…his sadness on display
“Is there anything I can do to make this sadness go away.”
He hugged his son, lifted him up then lovingly placed him on his knee
“Let me teach you something,” he said…”your grandpa taught to me.”
Let’s sit here together close our eyes and think of Grandpa for a while.
Think of all you the time we spent together…all the times he made us smile.
“Today we’re feeling one huge sadness…and here is what Grandpa taught us:”
“Not to let this one huge sadness outweigh all the happiness he brought us.”
He said, “sadness and happiness are incompatible. They can’t take up the same space
and the best way to remove a frown is to put a smile on your face.”
“It’s not always easy.” he knew… “like today when we’re both so aware
how Grandpa is no longer with us…how sadness fills our air.”
“But Grandpa knew what he was talking about and when sadness comes our way
we must remember happiness…to make that sadness go away.”
So they sat together father and son…and they thought of him a while…
and on one of the saddest days in both their lives…they found a way to smile.
WITHOUT HER
With the memory of her death still fresh in his mind
he pauses to think about her…
and he wonders…
if the world will always be this quiet
and this lonely…
without her.
A MAN OF FEW WORDS
He was already a man of few words
but her death left him completely silent
and bereft
as if she took to heaven with her
whatever few words he had left.