In honor of my best friend's birthday - today - here is a poem I wrote this past March, during my dad's last week of life.
Precious Friend
My heart can't find words
Your eyes fill with love
Your steps fall in with mine
My heartbeat lightens
You leave behind your day
Gather your own fear
You cross the threshold
Smile at my father
He reaches for your hand
Knowing for certain
He need never worry for me
With you there
Precious friend
The heart of the Happy Prince
The swallow who would not leave him
Nothing will stop the wave of loss
You merely place yourself
So my knees won't buckle
Copyright 2007 Julia Smith
Monday, June 25, 2007
Poetry Train Monday - 7 - Precious Friend
Posted by Julia Phillips Smith at 9:01 PM
Labels: Poem, Precious Friend
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16 comments:
okay - lump in throat with that one. It was lovely Julia.
I almost posted one called "In Sorrow's Arms" that I wrote when my 10 year old niece died of cancer - but still haven't reached the place within myself where i can share something that deeply personal... yet. Someday.
Rhian, sorry to hear about your niece. That must have been awfully tough. No one's ever prepared to say goodbye to a child.
Thank you for sharing your depth of sentiment and the power of your words.
Beautiful words Julia, thank you for sharing them.
Thank you for sharing this.
Man, I wish I'd had more coffee so I could say what I'm thinking (in the right way)
Your poem brought sadness to me because my own father died after a long stretch fighting cancer. Your having lived through a similar event, expressed it here, shared the burden of that sadness.
Does that make any sense?
Beautiful, Julia, and so moving! Thanks for posting this.
On a word... beautiful! Thank you for sharing it!
As you may have seen, I posted a tribute to my Dad in one of my blog Posts which you may enjoy: http://drbillsharleywisdom.blogspot.com/2007/05/my-last-farewell-with-my-dad.html
I still think of him frequently, especially when my memory is so touched by poems like yours.
Thanks again,
Bill
Hey Julia! Great poem, I was just to busy to hop on the Poetry train this Monday.
As for the online courses ... the ones I seem to take alot with (because they are so interesting) is through the Celtic Hearts Chapter, although, Storyboarding was through E-Book and Small Press RWA Special Interest chapter or ESPAN.
Thanks, Amy! I thought you were going to tell me it was somewhere in Toronto, which would have made me homesick for the Big City. I'm a Maritimer who moved to Toronto, then moved back to NS. So I have two places for which to be homesick.
I liked the last two lines, all about finding the strength in others to find the strength in yourself.
That's really touching, Julia. Wow. I had to read it twice, in fact!
How beautiful. Thank you for sharing, I am sure it touches ALL of our hearts so very deeply. I'm quivering still. This is extremely touching.
That is truly one precious friend.
Lovely poem, thank you for sharing.
What a beautiful poem. Thanks for visiting me :)
This is simply lovely, Julia.
Blessings,
~Toni~
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