228 - Mother and Son

Mother and Son
By Joan Campbell Barnett

His father gave him the inheritance,
The gold he was to have, oh, years from now
When we are gone.

No word I spoke the night before he left,
But wept, and sewed a good strong leather bag
To hold the coins.

At sunrise, servants ready, donkeys packed,
He laughed and talked of travel, princes, fame,
Then waved goodbye.

I wait beside his father, hide the pain
Our other son is steadfast, strong and kind,
But not the same.

Be present with him, God, protect him now
Your child he is, as we are Guard him well,
And bring him home.

Joan Campbell Barnett is a graduate of the University of California at Berkeley and of Princeton Theological Seminary. She has served as a public school teacher and a director of Christian education. At the present time, she is a Reading Teacher in a primary school in Seneca Falls, N.Y.