I Can't Hear! I Can't Hear!

I can't hear! I can't hear!
I can tell there's a sound but it's not clear.
It might be words or a hum or a sigh.
Maybe it's sweet. Maybe it's a cry.

It's more distorted if it gets loud.
Think of the noise of an excited crowd.
My ears can't grasp a certain range.
A tone higher or lower -- can you make that change?

Sometimes I may ask you to repeat.
Put yourself in my "ears". Please be sweet.
Don't say, "doesn't matter" or "never mind".
That's very rude. That's really unkind.

I don't want pity and I hate to rant.
Maybe now YOU can hear -- but what if one day, you can't?

By Netagene, in a few minutes, March 2, 2016. I emailed this to several who had articles published in the current magazine issue of the Hearing Loss Association of America. One professor at Gallaudet University wrote back, asking my permission to print and use it there. I also emailed it to the SayWhatClub's listserv, and posted it on the HLAA Facebook wall, the SWC Facebook wall, and my own Facebook wall. I got a LOT of "likes", plus requests to use it in various meetings.

LONELINESS COVERS ME

LONELINESS COVERS ME

A sweet embrace is now long past.
We didn't know 'twould be our last.

Like blackbirds hide the sun's warm gold,
Sadness hovers, drifts, enfolds.

Hard choice to make -- stay or divorce,
Efforts fail -- must change my course.
Still -- loneliness covers me.

Some choose no mate. Some choose bad.
Alone with another is just as sad.

No matter whose fault, no matter the dirt,
The house is quiet. I’ll always hurt.

When I've been wrong and my friends have run,
even though I've repented of the things I've done ...
loneliness covers me.

Separation or single, or miles between,
Personalities change, events unseen.

Death or divorce, or miles apart --
Separation's bad; it breaks my heart ...
and loneliness covers me.

God in Genesis made a wife
To complement Adam for all his life.

Ecclesiastes says two are better than one* --
To encourage each other, to get things done.

My own poor company -- Oh, how I ache, but
Even God's wise ones made mistakes.

Think of King David, King Solomon, too --
Even God's blessed ones were lonely and blue.

I don't know a thing in this whole wide world

that's worse than being alone** …

and loneliness covers me.

~ by Netagene, January 19-22, 2016

* Ecclesiastes 4:9-12

** a line from the song, “Where No One Stands Alone", written by Thomas Mosie Lister (September 8, 1921 – February 12, 2015)

The title came to me when I was almost asleep. I managed to turn on a lamp. The only thing I had to write with was a pencil (not a pen); the only thing I had to write on was a book. I reached for it (it was something like newsprint), found a blank page, wrote those 3 words, dog-eared the page. Morning came, got the book, could barely read my writing. The first verse came easily because of a recent online communication with friend Mark Turner, whose wife died in 2015. A bit of that poem is a little about other friends as well as a little about myself.

A SERVANT's HEART

At the heart of a servant is a will to try,
To get out of my comfort, and likely to fly.
To help someone, great or small,
Knowing NOT to try is sure to fall.

A servant's heart should be my goal,
Rich or poor, to ease a soul.
An unknown person without a name
To him, I'm an angel with heart aflame.

My heart's not there for praise on earth.
The greatest servant was low by birth.
His example is mine. To God be praised!
In Heaven forever, with Him I'm raised!

The least I can do is follow God's path --
Thanking God instead of feeling His wrath.
My servant's heart -- thank God I'm free!
The Greatest Servant rescued me!

Not too bad for having been written in about 10 minutes, Monday, August 24, 2015, 9:50am, Netagene Kirkpatrick

MEMORIES and OLD IRON

Memories like rusty old iron that was cast
In some small sandy hole that I thought surely would last –
Brought to the front of my mind now and then,
Polished so I vaguely see them again.

Cracks in my memories like pits in the iron –
Missing some scenes like a field that is barren.
Like seasoning on skillet, a faint image shows through –
Someone from long years, some notes I once knew.

A shine that now beams to my memory, now dim –
I see in my mind's eye – was that really him?
My father, my brother – oh where have you gone?
My sister, my mother – some notes of a song ...

Though iron lasts a long time, it changes its look.
My mind from my body has also forsook ...
Corrosion has come to that iron in the sand.
I'm changing, too, for a far better land.

My thinking is slipping – sometimes loses track,
Like that trusty iron skillet, I'm beginning to crack.
Forgetting my own name, don't know who you are –
But I do know that Heaven's no longer so far!

But now it's today. I'm not sure what to do.
The rust in that skillet's now covered my view.
My mind simply tricks me with things only I see.
I know that I'm fading but God's arms reach for me.

- by Netagene Kirkpatrick, December 21, 2014 -

In the Mirror (7 to 70)

What he sees in the mirror is young and cute –
Cowlick hair and a too-big suit.
Little girls giggle behind their hands,

But a rag tag game is in his plans.

What he sees in the mirror is young and slim –
A tall slender dude - Girls go for him. 
With wavy hair and a twinkle in his  eye –
He's the high school hunk and the girls all sigh ...

He's the band drum major, sings bass in the choir –
An honor roll student who wants to go higher.
Girls see his potential, a life of ease –
They dream of him: "O, marry me please!"

In college he strolls with a purposeful air,
Then marriage and family and God and prayer.
A blest life, and happy, even with some woes –
Then suddenly it's winter; how fast the time goes!

What he sees in the mirror – how time has passed by!
Now the former he-man has tears in his eyes.
He's passed the age of three-score and ten –
Nearer to God than he's ever been.

What sins he's committed! Friends come and lost –
Impetuous acts, now paying the cost.
He's repented of wrongs, and God forgave.
He's doing OK, thanking God he's saved.

- by Netagene, November 21, 2014. I also changed a few things and wrote a girls' version. A friend I've never met in person called me a minute before the poem hit his email (a few minutes after I finished writing it). While we were on the phone, he read it out loud, “cold” of course. I’d read it out loud, but it was different hearing it read by a baritone voice. It made me cry. (Makes me think of the people who made idols, then bowed down to them!) I’m 70, he’s 71.

A PIZZA and a PORCH SWING

Have you ever had a friend you haven't seen in awhile, but you write (email) and call each other on the phone a lot, but are either a distance away, or circumstances prevent you from visiting? Such is the background of this poem. I mentioned taking some leftover pizza to my screened-in front porch, and sitting on the swing. This has a few lines that we both used.

A pizza and a porch swing -
A man, a plan, and a plane -
To be with a friend in the evening -
How lovely, enticingly sane!

A pizza, a plan, a friend -
Wonderfully ending the day -
Lord, give him the wings of an eagle -
Bring him, though far away. 

A steak for one is lonely -
Better a pizza with a friend -
Dear God, please bring us together.
In Your time, if Your will. Amen.

- by Netagene, late September 30, 2014 -

NEW BIRTH DAY!

Happy Birthday, yes, to you!

And yes, you’re not a babe –

But yes, in one sense, oh! you are –

Yes, now you’re truly saved!

So you were born some time ago,

To parents here on earth,

But this time’s so much better!

It’s now your spiritual birth!

This birthday, you died to sin.

You shed your dirty clothes.

God washed you white – you know it’s true!

You’re new when you arose!

Christ is now your brother.

You’ll never be alone!

As long as you stay faithful,

You’ll see your Heavenly home!

So Happy Birthday at this time!

You know for sure you’re right!

And now, my friend, God blesses you

As you walk in His light!

- by Netagene Kirkpatrick, in about 10 minutes, October 1, 2014, for a new Christian, though in this case, for a lady in her 70s who has been a Christians for years, but began to think that she had been baptized for the wrong reason or some such, when she was young. She was baptized again on September 24, 2014. Better to be SURE! -