Homage to Ruth

HOMAGE TO RUTH

On the seventeenth you came
from your mother's womb
sixty-plus years and a day
after the grandmother
whose name you bear
And on the seventeenth next
you were lowered into the tomb
freshly dug for you and
for your family that follow

The Lord gave you to us
and for three heavy weeks
you were our joy, our hope,
and our future

Your little life fought hard
You showed your will
When the nurses fed you through your nose
disregarding pain your tiny hands
yanked out the plastic tube
your nose upturned in contented peace

Late on the twelfth your heart gave out

We thank God for those three weeks
We praise him in our grief
He wipes away our fears
and dries our requiescent tears
We have learnt what it is to grieve
We have passed through the severity
of our sufferings

and we are finding that incomprehensible peace
which always will be yours

© Gerald England

Composed: Oldham, 25th October 1975

Publications

1977 EYES (Huddersfield, Sight Saving Association)
1981 DADDYCATION (Ashton under Lyne, New Hope International)