©2022 Susan Noyes Anderson

image by Darius Bashar on Unsplash

I fill up notebooks with my pen
to mourn you, son…again…again.
The lasting loss, the hollow heart,
the ache of living far apart.

©2022 Susan Noyes Anderson

We came here every year
for years and years.
It was our jam.
We’re gathered here again
at last, but now
you’re on the lam.

©2022 Susan Noyes Anderson

image by John Salvino on Unsplash

Gray waves, pounding on the shore,
give shelter to this mother’s roar
of anguish. You are here no more.

©2022 Susan Noyes Anderson

image by Fey Marin on Unsplash

Small white crosses dot green grasses,
children who will play no more.
Bright-eyed boys and lively lasses,
robbed of all life held in store.

©2022 Susan Noyes Anderson

image by Hannah Olinger on Unsplash

I chart my course in life with words
that rise up like the northern star
and lead me, yet my words fall short
of lifting me to where you are.

©2022 Susan Noyes Anderson

Photo by Lucas George Wendt on Unsplash

Life leaves its mark on everyone:
a bruise, a scrape, a scar.
But none of these define us.
There is more to who we are.
We cannot alter circumstance;
God only holds that power.
We cannot stop or start the rain
that falls on every flower.
It is not ours to shift the winds
of fortune, foul or fair.
Nor can we pick the troubles
we find easiest to bear.

©2022 Susan Noyes Anderson

I was a shooting star, my mother said,
a force as bright and bold as sun and sea.
Mom’s heart claimed me with joy that never fled––
her lightning bolt of untamed energy.

©2022 Susan Noyes Anderson

Wesley Tingey

Because of Christ, we know a love
that fills the earth and sky–
a selfless and redeeming love
the world cannot deny.
Because of Him, what’s wrong on earth
will, one day, be made right.
His path is ours to understand:
the Way, the Truth, the Light.