For Marilyn and Lyman Carpenter

 This is the last poem I found. It was among some letters my Mom had kept. It's a poem Joel wrote to my parents at some point before my Dad died in 2006.


Looking back at my life

And all that I have lost,

The years of constant strife,

Tears and pain with great cost

 

Experience has taught

The skill of how to “see,”

What I have and have not,

And the cost of what’s “free”

 

Now in church, where I’m faced

With all that I have now,

My God’s Blessings and Grace,

Harvest where I didn’t plow

 

From my Heart, I now share

My gratitude for what you do,

And just how much I care,

I thank God for both of you

 

~ by Joel Purkerson

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