A Peaceful Heart by James D O'Brien

I sit with retrospective heart,
Eyes glistening with sentimental due
That sometimes trickle down my cheek.

I remember each birth,
Each new beginning
With the smiles of anticipation,
The gleam in my eye for a daddy’s pride.

What glorious days those were,
Not knowing what joys that would lay ahead,
What challenge would grip the coming days,
But only seeking for that silver lining
That should accompany each life’s cloudy day.

Never, along the corridors of early mornings thought
Or late night’s contemplation
Did I anticipate the ending.
The ending of one of my little ones,
Nor could I have thought of
Death’s hold on each who cling to life
With such zeal and trust.

Yet that time came,
Like the bursting of capacity filled dam,
Gushing forth, with its anguish, fear and blame,
Splashing its horror of finality across my soul.
Then with agony’s oppressive weight, I can relate to the words,
Uttered by He, who is greater than all,
“Oh God, Why has thou forsaken me?”

But in God’s time, like the gentle twittering of birds song,
Comes understanding that only truth can administer.
The once living, then challenged and now, Still living and safe,
Child of mine?
Or was this a child of the Father of all,
Then entrusted to me by the creator of all things.

Now, among blessed memories of he who was God’s
Then given to me for a time, then returned to Father’s sanctuary,
I find peace in the answer to “ Why?”
As it was written, “Because I love thee.”
For with heart and soul instead of eye, I see.
God has truly blessed me with his own!

© James O’Brien
June 2009