40th Reunion

OUR 40TH REUNION

2002

 

REUNION POEM # 3

 

I.

I really miss Danny Beardmore.

For that matter, I miss my dad.

The passing of our life's companions

Is guaranteed to make us feel sad.

 

Let's give a moment to Junior Allphin.

Jim Apple and Nancy Casteel.

Don't forget Louis Eros and John Adams.

Diane Hock and sweet Linda Israel.

 

Remember Alyce Flowers and Wayne Dougherty,

Rodger Pierpont and Pam White,

Herschel Cline and Dick McAfee

As ones we hold up to the light.

 

II.

It's not easy being fifty-seven.

And I know some of you are even fifty-eight.

You wouldn't be alone if you wondered,

"What on earth will be my fate?"

 

We're pulled and pummeled by politics.

We're jostled and hurried in a crowd.

We wonder if the world will end soon.

Who'd blame us 'for crying out loud'?

 

In a society that praises beauty,

Youthfulness, money and power,

What do we still have to offer

As life races by by the hour?

 

III.

Look into yourselves for a moment

And see who you find living there.

Look deep, beyond any self-pity.

Look deep, to see if you care.

 

As you peer into that dimly lit corner,

Is there someone there you've forgotten to tend?

A writer, a painter, a magician?

A farmer, a teacher, a friend?

 

Maybe a daredevil or decorator?

A tutor, a carpenter, a wife?

A benefactor, scholar or activist?

Or only the shell of your life?

 

IV.

We all may have thirty years left

To get out of bed everyday!

I think that we'd better start planning

For others to hear what we say.

 

What if we each gave a moment

For Danny, or Linda, or Pam,

To do something at least in their memory?

Something that says, "Here I am!"

 

Plant a tree, teach a child, make a difference.

Use who you've found deep inside.

Then offer that gift to your Neighbor

Live a life that can't be denied.

 

Lucy Racer Friedrichs

Sept. 2002










 


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