by Carol Voigts
Member since:
November 16, 2005

This Is A Time To Gather

July 26, 2006 03:45 PM EDT (Updated: July 26, 2006 03:51 PM EDT)
views: 50 | rating: 9.6/10 (12 votes) | comments: 20

I just got word that a friend has been diagnosed with both liver and lung cancer and the prognosis is not good for her.  After worrying about her for a couple of days, I wrote her this poem.  Please use it to help some others through this time in their lives too, if you like.

 

This is a time to gather

Gather your thoughts

Gather your memories

Of childhood times, school chums

Bedroom walls, closet boxes

Beach parties, first kisses

Afternoons filled with friends

 

This is the time to cherish

A mother's hand and smile

A father's soft word of praise

A lover's passion

A child's first word or step

A struggle overcome

A friend's listening ear

 

 

This is the time to cry out your sorrows

Rant your despair

Blurt out your regrets

Give voice to your rage

Murmur your doubts

Shout your unspeakable

Take courage

 

This is the time to speak

Speak of your loves

Talk of your passions

Sing out your joys

Give praise for your life

Feel everything that comes your way

Seize every moment

 

This is the time to surrender

Your worry of temporal things

Your hates and troubles

All things that don't matter

Jealousies and petty thoughts

Your mind's struggles

 

Yourself to God

 

Carol Voigts

c july 2006

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Comments: 20

Bonnie C. Jul 26, 2006, 3:51pm EDT
I really liked it too but it was very hard to read.
Miz Lynn aka/BooBoo Jul 26, 2006, 3:51pm EDT
Amen.
Aileen F. Jul 26, 2006, 3:55pm EDT
This is a very nice wish for your friend's healing.
mona d. Jul 26, 2006, 3:57pm EDT
beautiful and empowering poem. sending you and your friend healing thoughts...
Nancy S. Jul 26, 2006, 4:27pm EDT
Very nice, Carol. I'm sorry about your friend, but she may take some comfort from what you've written.
jessie voigts Jul 26, 2006, 5:22pm EDT
beautiful, carol. i would have been crying as i wrote it - so very powerful.
Leah Christensen Jul 26, 2006, 5:28pm EDT
I know she will like this. Also, it says alot about us on Gather, about how we come together to share. Thanks for publishing this.
Cheryl W. Jul 26, 2006, 5:36pm EDT
Beautiful poem. I can relate. I had to have a biopsy today and so many thoughts are running through my mind.....and they are all so much like the thoughts expressed in your poem here to your friend.
Clare Stella Jul 26, 2006, 6:32pm EDT
This is lovely, Carol, and reads like a prayer.
Laurie White Jul 26, 2006, 9:23pm EDT
Carol, I hope this brings some comfort to your friend. It's difficult to know what to say or do to help a friend when they are facing something like this.
julian 'blighted karma' three Jul 26, 2006, 9:51pm EDT
I liked this very much; you have covered all the emotions and the depths of thought, fear and feeling that overwhelm us all at such times. Although my own situation is stable now, after my heart had stopped and been started again, in February, I felt so many of those things too...as I did when my dear wife was having another major surgery last year. So I will be honored to pray for your friend and her loved ones, and for Cheryl as well. Sometimes it seems that the world is so big, we can't reach one another to hug or touch or share a smile or a word of encouragement; but our prayers and loving thoughts are never limited by distance. Blessings to you, and to all...
Beryl Singleton Bissell Jul 26, 2006, 10:53pm EDT
This is for all of us Carol. Now is the time. We really only have now don't we. And this now could be our last. So, I am going to print this up and pop it into my journal to remind myself. Thank you!
Carol Voigts Jul 26, 2006, 11:45pm EDT
thanks, all of you for your kind words. Cheryl, I pray for you in your worrying time. As you said, Beryl, we all need to remind ourselves to live each day as if it were our last.
this is a hard time for your friend,,, but I have to tell you this and I hope you pass it on. My neighbor had stage 4 cancer through out his entire body. He was given a less than 2 percent chance of surviving 6 months. His wife told the doctors she wanted all treatment and make it agressive.
4 years and 2 months later he is alive and cancer free.

Your friend has to fight fight fight...
Carolyn Madden Jul 27, 2006, 7:11am EDT
Carol, i went straight to the bold print and it made me smile and sigh at your loveliness.. then i saw the introduction. How it changed your words and made them so much more important. What a marvellous gift for your friend, and for us.
Granny Janny H. Jul 27, 2006, 8:16am EDT
Life wisdom serves as advice. Yes, it's universal and reminds me that we are all in the same ark floating together~ here and now on this beautiful planet. Well done!
johnson ogbonnaya Jul 27, 2006, 5:11pm EDT
Well stated! but then,
It's equally a time to think about life after death. It's a time to remember your creator while you live.
John F Walter Jul 30, 2006, 6:15am EDT
This was so uplifting. Inspiring. Luminous and true.
I guess it's the way I am lately, but my face is awash in tears of affirmation and gratitude that we have such a fine, generous hearted soul who is also a superb writer and educator named Carol Voights at Gather.
I am so glad you wrote this for your friend; it does speak to me as well, Carol. This is the time for all of those things, and feel life's zest and brio.
Yes!
Carol, I've come a month late to this - but such as this never dates. There is always a time for sharing such wisdom as this.

Magi

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