From: Ron Sumner

03/25/2002

I was browsing and saw the names of many of us who have gone before us to cross the

Great Divide. Some I did not know; many I knew and loved as friends as close as

brothers. I wrote this years ago, but I would like to post it in honor of those who

have left us, if you will accept it.

Memoriam

Mourning; staring blankly at this page,

I pray God will write the words,

that I might say to all who live,

what I should have said to you.

I rejoice in your deliverance,

that suffering and pain are yours no more;

now, at last, you've walked your path

and touched Eternal Shores.

I thank God for who you were;

so good, and kind, and full of faith.

Yet, my heart is deeply grieved,

and my head bows in shame.

Not because I never loved you,

nor cared that you were ill;

not that I could not see your pain

and somehow feel your hurt.

My shame is I rushed through life

and took no time to say it.

I grieve that I rarely sought you out,

and stayed no longer when I did;

I grieve that I rarely sat with you,

to read the Book,

and listen as you spoke to me,

to hear the thoughts between your words

and truly know your heart.

Gone forever is my chance

to climb to the top of this house,

and shout so loud the world would hear,

I love you, Friend,

and I hold you dear.

Oh, for the pow'r to change this clock

to see your face again;

how your voice could change my heart,

but, the clock can't stop

and I've failed you, Friend.

Still, even in Death, a lesson you've taught.

I'll never again let my chance go by

without doing what I ought.

ron sumner

1980

I remember especially Ray Tankersley and my own brother Wayne Sumner

who died in 1997. God bless you all. ron.