SOMEONE STANDS BETWEEN YOU AND DEATH….
someone stands between you and death — but
who knows how much more my heart can stand —
where you are, it’s so important
someone prays for you
even with their own words
even if they don’t clasp their hands and kneel
plucking the stems off strawberries from the garden
I recall how I scolded you when you were small
for squashing the berries before they ripened
my heart whispers: Death, he hasn’t ripened yet
he’s still green, nothing in his life has been
sweeter than unwashed strawberries
I beg you: oh God, don’t place him at the front,
please don’t rain rockets down on him, oh God,
I don’t even know what a rocket looks like,
my son, I can’t picture the war even to myself
By Halyna Kruk
A mother in the Ukraine prays for her son. She remembers scolding him as a child for squashing berries before they had ripened. Now she prays and begs God to let her son live and ripen despite the rockets and the war all around him.
Halyna Kruk was born in Lviv in 1974. She is a poet, writer of fiction and a scholar of Ukrainian medieval literature. She has authored four books of poetry and collected some of Ukraine’s top awards for young poets. She teaches literature at the Lviv University.
Who have YOU lost in YOUR life who “hadn’t ripened yet”?
My brother Tom is doing much better breathing on his own without the ventilator. He is moving from ICU to a regular room at Little Company of Mary Hospital in Torrance, CA. He is talking and his cognitive ability seems fine. I’m doing well. Tom and I truly appreciate your prayers. Thank You!!
PEACE COMES NOT FROM THE ABSENCE OF TROUBLE, BUT FROM THE PRESENCE OF JESUS!
