Andrew's Poems

ANDREW

A rose once grew where all could see, Sheltered beside a garden wall, And, as the days passed swiftly by, It spread its branches, straight and tall.
One day, a beam of light shone through A crevice that had opened wide- The rose bent gently toward its warmth Then passed beyond to the other side.
Now, you who deeply feel its loss, Be comforted - the rose blooms there- It's beauty even greater now, Nurtured by God's own loving care.
...Author Unknown

Andrew isn't lost.
I know exactly where he is;
Buried on an oblique mountainside
Where we laid him
One windy February day.

He lies beneath a bed of purple pansies
Planted by his mother,
Her manicured nails
Chipped and cracked
From digging in the cold clay earth
That blankets her baby.

"We're so sorry you lost you grandson,"
is the litany I hear as I nod my head
and clutch closer the plastic baby doll
I carry around so my arms won't be
As empty as my heart.
Pamela Carman

Pray for the Children

	We pray for the children who put chocolate fingers everywhere Who like to be tickled Who stomp in mud puddles and ruin their new pants Who sneak Popsicles before supper Who erase holes in their math workbooks Who can never find their shoes

	And we pray for those who stare at photographers from behind barbed wire Who've never squeaked across the floor in new sneakers Who never "counted potatoes" Who are born in places we wouldn't be caught dead Who never go to the circus Who live in an X rated world.

	We pray for children who bring sticky kisses and fistfuls of dandelions Who sleep with the dog and bury goldfish Who hug us in a hurry and forget their lunch money Who cover themselves with Band-Aids and sing off-key Who squeeze toothpaste all over the sink Who slurp their soup

	And we pray for those who never get dessert Who watch their parents watch them die Who have no safe blanket to drag behind Who can't find any bread to steal Who don't have any rooms to clean up Whose pictures aren't on anyone's dressers Whose monsters are real

	We pray for children who spend all their allowance before Tuesday Who throw tantrums in the grocery store Who pick at their food Who like ghost stories Who shove dirty clothes under the bed and never rinse out the tub Who get visits from the Tooth Fairy Who don't like to be kissed in front of the car pool Who squirm in church and scream on the phone Whose tears we sometimes laugh at And whose smiles can make us cry

	And we pray for those whose nightmares come in the daytime Who will eat anything Who have never seen a dentist Who aren't spoiled by anybody Who go to bed hungry and cry themselves to sleep Who live and move, but have no being

	We pray for children who want to be carried And for those who must For those we never give up on And for those who don't get a chance For those we smother with love And for those who will grab the hand of anybody kind enough to offer
	...Author Unknown

God created stars in the heavens and the wind in the trees;
He gave us sun in the morning and the giant bumble bees.
After all of this beauty, God still was not through,
So he created an angel, and named him Andrew.

Andrew came to us one cold day in winter
A small, fragile angel we would always remember.
This little one we wanted so much just to live;
No one could imagine how much, to us, he would give.

Our special little angel showed each of us the way
To appreciate the gift of living each and every day.
This angel named Andrew, so loved you could see
By Mommy and Daddy and his whole family.

Then, as God planned, he called Andrew home;
But he promised his family they would never be alone.
See, love is a spirit that grows within you
And as we live every hour, we remember Andrew.

Though we cannot kiss him or caress his sweet face,
We can hope, one day, to see him in a better place
Where all children are happy and angels abound-
This is where our little Andrew will be found.

Living here on earth is going to be hard.
Without our little angel, our souls are scarred.
Someday we will find him, when it's our name God calls-
We will see our Andrew, through our teardrops may fall.

On that day in Heaven, our Andrew above
Reunited with family, will feel our deep love.
Andrew is there, gone on before us
To watch over Kaylin, Walker and Josh.

God's Greatest Work of Art
Read at Andrew's Memorial Service
March 5, 2005

When God had finished making earth and heaven And filling them with wonders great and small He saw how a special gladness could be given, And so began His greatest work of all!
He took the sparkle of the dew at dawning To make two shining eyes, so bright and clear. He plucked a velvet rose that sun-drenched morning And made a baby mouth- tiny, soft and dear.

	For downy hair, He chose the silk that lingers On summer flowers whose seeding time has come. And for those dainty little toes and fingers, The petals of a sweet chrysanthemum.
	He took the magic of a rainbow's splendor, The softness of a summer cloud on high, The innocence of sprint, so fresh... so tender, The frailty of a gentle butterfly.

The happy sounds of laughter and of singing, He borrowed from the jolly tumbling brook; Then, turning to some bluebells sweetly ringing, Their loveliness and cheeriness He took.
And to this masterpiece so long awaited, He added then, the love from His own heart; And thus it was our Andrew He created... God's greatest and most precious work of art.