Death Conquered

To My Mother

Death Conquered

Only twenty years old and left alone.
No more wondering when he’d be home.
The sea he loved had claimed it’s own.
No more oceans would my father roam .

She had three young boys and not a cent .
Went to work at the hotel as a maid .
Kept some boarders to pay the rent .
To proud to beg , she always paid.

The landlady’s son was a handsome man.
They moved to the country to run a veterans home .
Mum became pregnant and away he ran.
Facing small town gossip and again alone.

We moved to a shack on a backwoods road.
Now with four boys no bath, no power.
No sign of weakness . She carried the load .
She was our inspiration , our shinning tower.

We carried water and we chopped wood.
Read the bible by kerosene lamps.
She taught us well. We had to be good .
Men dropped in from the logging camps.

Wallace was the strongest of them all .
Shy and quiet , hardly said a word.
My mother married him in the fall .
Her knight in Armour with a mighty sword .

Two more boys a year apart ,
Then a third , now there’s seven .
Stephen died in his crib . Never had a start .
Only three months old and gone to heaven .

Time goes by I’m now nineteen .
Home on leave with the air force .
Wallace works in the woods . Still just as keen .
Bad news comes from an unlikely source .

Sunday morning brother Ron arrives .
Wallace was stung by a bee in the woods .
He falls to the ground and doesn’t survive .
Death is so cruel . Such evil dark hoods.

Only thirty nine , Mum’s alone again .
I get a compassionate posting nearby .
Home to help with the pain .
Helping with the boys the years fly .

Suddenly , I’m thirty years old .
Our youngest brother Brian now fourteen .
As a family we’ve done well . The story is told .
What could go wrong ? Mum’s pride can be seen .

Alas , Death is Mum’s fright .
Dark hoods again . He strikes at her core .
Brian is killed one dark rainy night .
Death , never satisfied , raises his score .

I arrive from the scene to give her the news .
I watch her shrink as blood leaves her soul .
She was never the same . It changed her whole view .
I hated death then . That dark hooded ghoul !

The funeral the largest many had seen .
A community united in support and love .
So many wonderful people with shoulders to lean .
The holes in our hearts filled from Heaven above .

The years flew again as they seem to do .
Mum grew strong in her faith .
The light shinning through .
Her bible her guide as the Lord saith .

Death came again evil dark hood .
But Mum was prepared . Our shinning tower .
No fear in her eyes as a good Christian should .
She stole death’s glory with God’s Holy Power .

I sat by her bed . Love filled the room .
I held her hand and whispered “ love you Mum “.
She opened her eyes . There was no gloom .
She said her last words “ I know son “.

I wrote this poem with one thought in mind .
To never forget an Angel here on earth .
Who was so strong , thoughtful and kind .
Now inspiring above at God’s glowing hearth .

Thanks and God Bless you Mum . Luke



by Luke