For You
For you I’ll plant this tree
Upon the ground that you’ve walked
There to grow and shade and feed
The friends that you’ve made.
May this tree bear sweet fruit
Found only in this place
Where others will come to learn of you
And benefit from your grace.
For you I’ll tend this field
Filled with bounteous food
For which you labored many years
Through endless droughts
And lonely tears.
May this food feed the hungry
Enriching many lives
To give their best,
And to the many hopeless, rest.
For you I’ll repair this barn
Mending every nail, painting planks,
Cleaning tanks, and stacking each bail.
Here you toiled in the heat
With aching blisters
On your hands and feet.
May this barn shelter the homeless,
The lonely and oppressed
Where broken lives are mended
With loving kindness.
For you I’ll guard this house
Protecting every treasure
From the thieves of night
And the sun’s light.
The lessons that you taught me
Shine brighter than gold;
They neither rust nor fade
Nor tarnish when old.
May this treasure be spent
To cultivate minds
To burn brighter than the luster
That money finds.
For you I’ll tend this grave
Cleaning off your stone,
Trimming the grass
And plucking the weeds
That have grown.
How quiet it is here among so many trees
Like the leaves that have fallen
You’re honored among these.
May this grave beneath the soil
Remind us of our Lord
That death has been conquered,
And life to all has been restored.
For you I’ll shed these tears
And mourn you for my loss,
Yet, through the haze of disbelief
I see an empty cross.
May these tears be fruitful
And water with my love
The tree that I just planted
For my father, now above.
|