![]() ![]() "I fancied that I heard them say, "Dear Lord, Thy will be done!įor all the joy Thy child shall bring, the risk of grief we run. Nor hate Me when I come to call to take him back again?" Now will you give him all your love, not think the labor vain, I've looked the wide world over in My search for teachers trueĪnd from the throngs that crowd life's lanes I have chosen you. "I cannot promise he will stay since all from earth return,īut there are lessons taught down there I want this child to learn. You'll have his lovely memories as solace for your grief." He'll bring his charms to gladden you, and should his stay be brief, It may be six or seven years, or twenty-two or three,īut will you, till I call him back, take care of him for me? "For you to love the while he lives and mourn for when he's dead. "I'll lend you for a while a child of mine," He said. I offer it here for all parents who are dealing with the grief of losing a child. I thought it strange that I didn’t remember this poem.Īs the poem was read in the movie – kind of an overlay as the mother was dealing with her grief – I felt the volcanic grief welling up within begin to calm once again and peace return. They never failed to bring comfort, calm, insight and understanding to whatever I was facing at the moment. Like my mother, I have read the poems in this little book many times. She had a small red volume of his poems that now rests in my library. Guest was not a great writer, but he was my mother’s favorite. No matter how often you visit these questions and think that they have been put to rest, there will still be a moment in the present when they all come rush back.Ī poem was used in telling the Abbate family story. ![]() The never ending questions, the “what ifs,” the “if onlys,” the self-doubts, the “was there something that I could have done”. But the story took me back to the pain that is so deep that you begin to think that it will never leave. Mine died because of cancer, his died because of a stupid driving decision of a fellow student. Mine was just starting to show interest in sports, Abbate’s was a star on the football team. Mine was just 4-days from his 9th birthday Abbate’s was in high school. I probably overly identified with the characters because I normally do. There are a lot of “maybes” involved here, but yesterday, sitting in the darken theatre as “The 5th Quarter” rolled across the screen I was transported back to another time when death came visiting. Maybe it is because I had to learn the hard lesson that life has to go on. Maybe it is because my heart was broken and life shattered. Maybe it is because that lost child was a son. ![]()
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