What can we offer to those who come after?

Stories of battle and victory?

Triumphant shouts and accolades?

Treasures retrieved and dragons destroyed?

Sometimes, it seems that the song that I sing

Is more of a dirge than a dance.

The smallest of joys seems forged from great pain

And defeat seems a constant refrain.

The lessons seem to say that happiness is snatched

From the teeth of a merciless beast:

To take for the moment the juice that is there

Lest someone else take it away.

But if I change the view from my analytical chair

To a wider and longer perspective,

I see I have a bigger part

Than the walk-on role in this play.

And little decisions and actions I take

Have an influence on time’s river course

And thought that I use to contain or express

Is noticed, is rewarded, is blessed.

And the child that I teach or the friend I encourage

Can multiply the fruit of my work

If I just keep planting and trusting the One 

Who will gather all things in His time.

Jane 9/2010

It’s sad to see you disappear

Slowly fading away

I hardly noticed it at first

The barest hint of gray.

The words you spoke were not so firm

Your laughter slightly absurd.

You looked past me when we spoke

As you seemed to ponder each word.

The change was oh so slow —

I thought I’d accommodated.

I thought I had learned to accept

This different way we related.

But you slipped ever further away

I could not hold you in place.

We were strangers who barely touched

Till you no longer saw my face.

I grieve the past and the future

Find it hard to enjoy the today

It’s easier to never approach

It’s easier to walk away.

But I open my heart to the pain

Seek patience to carry through.

And long for the day when once more

You will be the real you.

Jane  2006