An Echo of My Words

Being confined to bed with a painful illness for a long time, I was discouraged and depressed. A friend telephoned to cheer me, and during our conversation she said that she was proud of me. When I asked “Why?” she replied that she had seen a poem of mine that had just been published. Then she said, “Let me read it to you.”

As the familiar words resounded in my ears, tears came to my eyes. Here was a gentle reminder from a friend who cared. I had not realized, when I composed it, that some day my own words would touch me so profoundly.

The tears washed away my despair, and my courage returned as I listened to the message of the last stanza.

… Thus can we

Afford to do

Less than our best

In the performance

Of our earthly

Test, however

Challenging

Our role may be,

In life’s

Dress rehearsal

For eternity?

Carolyn Joyner Freebairn, Salt Lake City, Utah