Poem for Papa

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When the news is all bad,
when a good man dies,
when the world seems dark and sad,
that's the time we have to remember
there is more light
on this planet
than there is dark.

In the midst of 
destruction and death,
we watch the heroes rising up,
running in to help
with selfless resolve.

When I think of 9/11,
what I remember,
besides the towers falling,
forever falling in my mind,
are the smiling young women
dressed as angels,
who walked about the city streets
to remind us
that love still exists.

When the night is dark and cold,
that is when we most bless the morning,
with a brand new day for starting over.
We are grateful  our eyes are opening
on yet another dawn,
and as the sun creeps up 
over the mountains,
soon all the dark is gone.

If each of us holds our thimblefuls of light
high up against the falling of the night,
the glow will spread from near to far,
reminding us, in the midst of pain and fear,
part of our DNA comes from
a star.

Kids, it has been a rough week.  A friend died suddenly, of cancer, three weeks from diagnosis to death, and I have been looking after their little one for much of the week. I will take him to his Papa's funeral on Saturday, so his mom will be able to focus on the service. Very sudden, very sad, and this little one says, about it, "Papa's still  around, we just cant see him." Little ones live so close to the truth of existence.

Papa and his wife, my friend Bernice, have raised thirty foster children in their years together. This little fellow is the most recent one. He adored his Papa.

The events in Boston rocked us all. We are becoming battle-worn and weary, oh, so tired. So I welcomed Kim's challenge at Poets United's Verse First this morning: to write a poem on the theme - Wake Up and Love.

I am so tired that it is a challenge. I would rather write a poem called Go To Sleep and Forget Everything. But I will try, because Kim has the right idea. In the middle of all of these sad events, what one sees, always, is the kindness of strangers to each other. In times of trouble, we all remember that we are kin.

I know I am very behind in commenting. I will catch up at some point. Truly, I will. Just hanging in, right now.