Hi Merlin
I wonder if you knew that your paternal Grandmother Lena was a writer and that she had at least one of those writings published in the Gospel Herald.She also wrote poetry and I am including one of those poems here that touches me. I read it as we sat down to our Thanksgiving meal last week …. Remembering Elaine.
The Absent One by Lena Oswald Erb (9/24/1890 — 3/2/1980)
As we gather at the table
And watch each smiling face,
Our hearts fill with emotion
To see the vacant place.
We may strive to hide our longing
In the midst of mirth and fun,
But we’re thinking, thinking, thinking
Of our loved but absent one.
When we gather round the fireside
With merry laugh and jest,
How we wish the absent dear one
Were here with all the rest:
Still we join in all the frolics
But we wish the day were done,
For we’re thinking, thinking, thinking
Of our loved but absent one.
Yet when the day is over
And we all have gone to rest,
We feel the heavenly Father
Does all things for the best;
So we cheer our drooping spirits
With the rising of the sun,
But we can’t help thinking, thinking, thinking
Of our loved but absent one.
Perhaps you are familiar with this writing of Grandmas. I don’t know of the loss she writes of here, but she really strikes a cord with me. I do love the rhythm. How sweet it would be to talk with her but her words allow me to relate to her today. What a gift!
Cousin Loretta
No, Loretta, I had never heard of this prior. And to think, Grandmother Lena lived in 2 rooms of our home my last several years of high school and even beyond. I now am deeply sadden how my self-centeredness back then, prevented me from sitting down with her and discovering this creative avenue in her full life. I do wonder if she could have written “The Absent One” after the unexpected death on 10/29/1919, of their fourth child, Mona, age 17 months, while yet on the share cropper farm near Beemer NB, prior to moving to their own their farm near Detroit Lakes MN in 1943. Thank You Loretta for sharing.
Merlin