On Life, Loss, and Angels
©2019 Susan Noyes Anderson
Image by Brian Kershisnik
Life brings challenges and joys.
Our path to progress was foretold.
We chose the bitter with the sweet
and vowed to step out brave and bold.
I am an LDS poet, a member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. Making these LDS poems (“Mormon” poems) available to others was one of my main reasons for creating this poetry site. People frequently asked me, “Do you have a poem for this…?” It seemed easier to place them all on a website where everyone could find exactly what they needed. Feel free to use these LDS poems in talks, lessons, programs or the like. Do be sure to include full copyright information on every hard or internet copy. Please email a request for permission before using one of my LDS poems. For internet use, a link back to this site is required. Thanks, and enjoy your visit!
FINDING THE POEM YOU WANT: As you scroll through this section, read each snippet sample (usually the first four lines) to get a feel for the poem’s content. When you find something you like, click “CONTINUE READING” to view the entire poem.
Life brings challenges and joys.
Our path to progress was foretold.
We chose the bitter with the sweet
and vowed to step out brave and bold.
What does it mean that Jesus walked
upon the earth so long ago?
What stake is mine in His descending
to a humble life below?
Love is patient.
Love is kind.
Love lives on
in heart and mind.
I thought the holidays would be
a time of grief and misery,
a stark reminder of our loss,
a multiplying of the cost.
The spirit finds home
inside warm flesh and bone,
taking ownership,
giving direction.
Should the formula fail,
appetite will prevail,
driving action
without due reflection.
In ways I cannot always see,
I know God watches out for me––
His loving instinct to protect
expressed as I might not expect.
Easter means more to those who know
the echo of a voice unheard,
the sound of silence in the air,
the loss that leaves no parting word.
The Savior in Gethsemane
consumed our sins on bended knee,
took every sorrow, every loss
and broke them on the rough-hewn cross.