A Little Longer
poetry from the Year of Grief
It’s almost strange, how vividly I remember the events which inspired this poem. Though I’d forgotten these written words of my own, the day itself is forever imprinted in my mind.
May the faith of this little child bless you, Reader, wherever you may be.
Friday evening
Mere hours after the accident
I was sitting outside
With a church elder and his wife,
my sister, and the two girls—
Emma’s sisters.
Someone brought out a pizza
Though none of us were really hungry
Except the girls, of course
They were so excited
Popsicles and pizza
What could be better?
The food was dished out
And I asked the older girl to pray for the meal
We all bowed our heads
As she began
It was a simple prayer
A little “Dear God, thank you for the food”
But then
“And thank you that Emma is safe in Heaven with You”
Oh, to have faith like a child!
I looked up as she said amen
Just in time to see the adults
Burying their faces in their hands
Throat tight, I managed to ask if the girls liked their pizza
Trying to distract them
The younger girl nodded happily
But the older one
Had noticed
Legs swinging, she picked up her slice and said
“You know, it doesn’t take much
To make us kids happy.
But I guess adults take a little longer
To stop being sad.”
I would like to apologize for being so absent with my blog recently. Life has been busy, and I’ve had very little motivation to write newsletters. Hopefully I can get a few done before college begins in full.
~ EB
Beautiful. You captured that scene so vividly.
So lovely. You made my day much more beautiful!