ON THEIR DEPARTURE
'Tis but a moment you've been gone
Yet already it's like hours.
I sit here in the house alone
Just gazing at your flowers.
Ten days! Ten days! and they'll be back
In my ears the words are ringing.
But those ten days like a dray mule's pack,
Upon my back are clinging.
As I peer through a plate of glass,
Someone has called a window,
I strain my eyes -- Ah, but alas,
No Mitz, Jim, Tom or Linda.
'Tis indeed a dark old world I face,
Without my four lights shining.
Bear Up! Bear Up! and run the race,
No matter how you're pining.
E'en from a grown man tears can flow,
When his loves ones are missing.
It matters not just how they go,
For their presence he is wishing.
'Twill not be long ere they'll return,
And my heart will cease its pining.
Then will my heart no longer yearn
For shouts, and cries and whining.
Till then I'll pray to God alone
To ask for their protection,
To bring then safe to me at home.
Such bliss is near perfection.
Benny Gore
7/28/66
Conway, AR
