But To Do And Die
Till my trophies at last I lay down
was always the hardest line to sing in
The Old Rugged Cross. If you only had
one trophy to your name and especially
if it was a smaller, humbler statue for
a non-athletic type accomplishment it
just seemed like a good Lord who had the
whole world in his hands anyway’d say
Keep it – you shook before that panel and
recited The Charge of the Light Brigade
as the sweat bled down your back and
you thought you might puke. I was there
in that east Texas schoolroom cheering,
not meddling in the minds of the judges but
trusting they saw what I saw, heard what
I heard, and would honor the wild charge
you made that day into the valley of Death.
The best things about your poems is; they understand.
You may just have rescued that hymn for me.
Watching one of my daughters hovering at the edge of the swimming pool at the age of 4, absolutely terrified to jump in and yet. . . doing it anyhow . . . well, it was one of the bravest things I’ve ever witnessed in my life. I still call that picture to mind when the nerve nellies bite me. To push through that terror and do it — that’s somethin’. Thanks for this, John.
Absolutely amazing. Even Father Abraham is swallowing back a tear reading this and thinking back