Sing it, Sinatra!
by Marilyn Jaeger
It was a very good yearWhen I was seventy-six
And Dick, seventy-nine.
The immortal Frank,
Jersey boy, born a hundred
Years before.
It was a very good year!
Memorable, to say the least.
Dick's heart stopped
Six minutes
And started beating, beating
Again, God and medics working as one.
What should I say when
A new year arrives
And friends say
You must be glad that year
is over?
But no, it was a very good year.
Let me bless you with the truth:
A very good year
May have trauma, catastrophe,
But know: God covers it,
Provides channels of thanks
And praise and blessing.
It was a very good year.
I bless you with this word.
Green pastures or pools of blood?
Find the redemption in it,
Glory in new dawns and old,
And that our minds still mesh as before, and more.
It was a very good year:
Learned more of God,
Able to love larger.
Isms of race and terror cage earthbound views,
Who wants another that? But Shepherd vows,
It will be a very good year!
Isaiah 42 remains for me one of the most impactful chapters of the Bible ("a bruised reed", etc), and this poem reminds me of the extra prescience of Isaiah 40: "those who hope in the Lord will renew their strength. They will soar on wings like eagles". We are forever in need of God's strength, strong as God has made us!
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