A Note from the Poet

Dear Reader,

What a profound blessing it has been to serve my mother in these years of her elderly decline. Yet how brutal and agonizing it is for me to have to leave her—pulled away by responsibilities and the hard necessities of provision.

Even though she is improving and receives phenomenal care, the separation remains agonizingly difficult. This prayer was born from that tension: the love that wants to stay, the duty that must go, and the quiet cry of a heart that entrusts what it cannot hold into the hands of Christ.

May these lines, offered in classical form and centered wholly on Him, meet you in whatever distance you carry.

— The Poet

Isaiah 46:4 – And even to your old age I am he; and even to hoar hairs will I carry you: I have made, and I will bear; even I will carry, and will deliver you.

Psalm 71:9, 18 – Cast me not off in the time of old age; forsake me not when my strength faileth. Now also when I am old and greyheaded, O God, forsake me not.

Psalm 121:5–8 – The Lord is thy keeper: the Lord is thy shade upon thy right hand. The sun shall not smite thee by day, nor the moon by night. The Lord shall preserve thee from all evil: he shall preserve thy soul. The Lord shall preserve thy going out and thy coming in from this time forth, and even for evermore.

Isaiah 49:15 – Can a woman forget her sucking child, that she should not have compassion on the son of her womb? yea, they may forget, yet will I not forget thee.

Hebrews 13:5 – for he hath said, I will never leave thee, nor forsake thee.

Lord Jesus, keep our families near

When roads and skies stretch far between.

Though we may long to hold them here,

Send angels forth, by You unseen,

To sit beside the empty chair,

To light the lamp at evening’s call,

To quiet every rising care

And answer when the soft tears fall.

Watch over children in their play,

And elders in their quieter years.

Be present through the ordinary day,

And closer still when night brings fears.

How hard it is to stand apart

While hearts still stretch across the night.

We cannot hold them, though we start—

So fold them in Your wings of light.

By Your own blood and finished cross,

By every promise You have made,

Turn absence into holy loss

That draws them nearer to Your shade.

Let every mile become a place

Where Your dear presence gently stays,

Until we meet face to face

And share again the same bright days.

Until that hour, O Christ our Lord,

Keep every soul we so adore

Beneath the shelter of Your Word,

Safe in Your keeping evermore!

Ending Prayer

O Lord Jesus Christ, eternal Son of the living God, who art the same yesterday, today, and forever, and whose compassionate eye rests upon every generation:

I come before Thee this day on behalf of my elderly mother, whom duty and distance have for a season placed far from those who love her. Thou who didst honour Thy own mother Mary, and who in the hour of Thy passion entrusted her to the care of the beloved disciple, look now with tender mercy upon this Thy handmaid in her advancing years.

Guard her body with health according to Thy will, strengthen her steps, and preserve her from every danger, loneliness, and fear. Where the miles lie between us, let Thy presence be nearer to her than any earthly companion. Comfort her heart when it grows heavy, quiet her nights with Thy peace, and fill her days with the quiet assurance that she is never forsaken.

Uphold her in the frailty of age; grant her daily bread, clear mind, and the gentle consolations of Thy Spirit. Knit her still to her children and family across every distance, and let our love and prayers reach her through Thee. If it be Thy good pleasure, hasten the day of safe reunion; until then, keep her securely in the hollow of Thy hand.

Be Thou her strength when she is weary, her light in any darkness, her unfailing Companion both near and afar, and the faithful Shepherd who will never leave her nor forsake her.

All this I ask in Thy most holy Name, who with the Father and the Holy Spirit livest and reignest, one God, world without end.

Amen.