I am at the Gulf house today trying to sort, purge, and pack for the next chapter in our life! As I was sorting through some notebooks of poems and doodles, I came across this Acrostic Poem I had written for my youngest son's friend who unexpectedly and tragically passed from our world - much too soon!
Little William was one of those friends who was at our home so often, going to football games with our family, spending nights and weekends with us; he would show up just in time for dinner almost every day; and the day before he died, I had joked with him that if he spent any more time at our house, I was going to have to charge his daddy child support. He looked at me with his tilted head and crooked little smile and laughed at me. It was a smile and a laugh that put sunshine in hearts!
William and my son were true and wonderful childhood best friends. William played baseball, my son played football; they were at one another's games with celebrations of won games, picking one another up after a lost game. They were often running the country roads as boys will do: fishing, catching snakes to bring home and scare the bejeezus out of me with, climbing trees, hanging out at the local river rope swing; it seemed they would always be inseparable. They should have grown up together, sharing all the milestones kids experience: first dates, first kisses, getting their driver's license, senior skip day, and maybe a broken heart or two before settling into adulthood.
As our family settled in the first night after hearing the news, I sat alone in the kitchen trying to find strength. I had gotten a deep urge to write and it didn't take long to pen these words:
William Be Our Angel and Fly!
When God gave you life,
It was His plan to take you home.
Let me not ask why,
Lest you be the child who has gone.
I cry in my strife,
And yet I know you're not alone.
May your soul soar high!
Be our angel and fly!
*****
May you forever be resting in peace our fun and adorable little friend! Thanks for making me smile today!