You’ve blessed so many, Henry, whom you do not know,
Together with your family and every friend.
We won’t forget you, even when it’s time to go.
In loving memories, good lives don’t ever end.
You’ve lived well, Henry, without benefit of fame—
The fate of most on turbulent, huge, teeming Earth;
But human worth is far more than a famous name.
Without a name, we’re treasured dearly at our birth.
God, incomparably more, even than our mother,
Loves us unconditionally and forever.
Similarly, Jesus urged “Love one another”
And exemplified it in lifelong endeavor.
To lack or leave love of a human sister, brother
Hurts. But nothing ends God’s love for us, not ever.
Born in 1940 and raised in rural South Dakota, USA, Bob Cable graduated from Harvard College in 1962, then declined a U.S. Air Force commission to teach for two years instead as a Peace Corps Volunteer in Peru. For 20 years he continued teaching English in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia; in Isfahan, Iran; and in four regions of the USA (Minnnesota, Texas, Washington DC, and Massachusetts), followed by a decade of work as a medical transcriptionist / secretary in the Boston, Massachusetts area, where he currently lives. Concomitantly, Bob did direct care work in Human Services for 30 years. He has three children with his first, Palestinian wife and enjoys three cats with his current life partner, Lorraine. Bob has always loved poetry and, since retirement in 2015, has written about 300 poems. Email: [email protected]
