Look beyond appearances.

What do you see,

When you look at me

Confined though I be

Through age and frailty?

            Look beyond my decrepit form.

            Despise not my senility.

            Peer beneath my wrinkled brow,

                                                                    Discover my true identity.

 A passer-by sees but ‘the outer’

Unaware of the real ‘inner’.

Hidden within are many stories

Of love, loss, faith and glory,

Friendships, family, history,

All which moulded me

Though they, you will not see,

Made me, me!

            To see only my frailty

            Cheapens my humanity.

            If un-mendable,

            I’m expendable,

Come, ask me about my history.

Listen as I share my journey

Of difficult turbulent years,

Upheaval too, but triumph’s tears

And joys shared with my peers.

We had community, we belonged!

Life was tough, friendships strong,

Things for which I do so long.

            Now our importunity

            Is your opportunity

            To give us dignity

            In compassion’s sincerity

 You, like I, must walk from youth to age

Each step you’ll write upon life’s page,

Face it with faith in the God who cares.

Through His word, in times of despair,

Find wisdom and hope so as to endure,

And by His grace stand ‘true blue’ and pure

So when your life’s race and battles end

You’ll be received by the Lord as His friend.

For Christ‘s promise to you, me,

Because of the cross of Calvary

And His resurrection victory,

We can share in His eternity.  

 ©Ray Hawkins Feb.1 2018