Serving Jesus Poetry
  • Author's Testimony & Introduction--FAQS
    • Table of Contents
  • 1 His Kingdom to Prepare
  • 2 My Choice Companions
  • 3 Companions
  • 4 Companions II
  • 5 A Mother's MTC Farewell
  • 6 Who Will Dare for Christ
  • 7 To a Chosen Generation
  • 8. I Feel Such a Strangeness
  • 9. Not Me
  • 10. My Brother's Father
  • 11. Not Far Away
  • 12. Questions for Our Leaders
  • 13. Questions From Our Leaders
  • 14. The Visit
  • 15. Show and Tell
  • 16. Within Our Slumber We Will Dream
  • 17. Servants in the Shadows
  • 18. Joya Escojida/Chosen Jewel
  • 19. Las Aguas Del Senor/The Waters of the Lord
  • 20. Come Fasting to the Meeting House
  • 21. As Voices Join in Sacred Sabbath Worship
  • 22. A Child's Baptismal Day
  • 23. In Temple White
  • 24. Temple Hill
  • 25. This Precious Day
  • 26. The Translators
  • 27. I Your Husband Who Have Fallen [First Poem of The Repentance Trilogy.]
  • 28. The Wife's Song
  • 29. Remember Not Past Years
  • 30. A Priesthood Lullaby
  • 31. The Season of Our Need
  • 32. Cherished Daughter, Valiant Servant
  • 33. Daughter, Hear and Heed Your Savior's Voice
  • 34. Bird Mom
  • 35. Eric's Song
  • 36. A Wedding Song of Praise
  • 37. Testimonies to My Daughters
  • 38. Prayer for a Caring Granddaughter
  • 39. Firstborn Son and Firstborn Daughter
  • 40. Father's Day
  • 41 The Hospital
  • 42. The Children of the World
  • 43. For the Healers of the World
  • 44. Simple Heroes of Our Day
  • 45. To This World So Prone to Peril
  • 46. Somewhere
  • 47. Servant of Servants
  • 48. We Wish That You Were Here
  • 49. The Teacher
  • 50. To Protect Marriage and Family
  • 51. Earth's Unborn Children Weeping
  • 52. Prayers for the Peacekeepers
  • 53. That Patriot Dreams Will Come to Pass
  • 54. We Would Do It All Again
  • 55. So Much More
  • 56. Passage and Pilot
  • 57. Because of the Son
  • 58. Growing Up
  • 59. The Olive Leaf
  • 60. Until All Are One With Him
  • 61. Death Has Not Won, But Lost
  • 62. Call to Arms
  • 63. When All Is Done
  • 64. How Rarely Have I Come This Way
  • 65. At a Place So Very Different
  • 66. My Best Years Lie Ahead
  • 67. Sons of Zion, Jesus Calls You
  • 68. Come, Sing Your Song to Me
  • 69. May It Be Always So
  • 70. Until Safe in Heaven's Embrace
  • 71. Seek the Spirit
  • 72. Undertow
  • 73. If I Am Given Time
  • 74. Sons and Daughters, Heirs of Promise
  • 75. Wrestling for a Call
  • 76. When Everything is Ready
  • 77. One Thousand Times
  • 78. Tearful and Fearful I Prayed Through the Evening
  • 79. Tell Us, How Do Servants and Teachers Like You Come Along?
  • 80. Blessings for Beloved Servants
  • 81. Our Gayla's Free at Last
  • 82. I Am a Witness of Your Worth
  • 83. I'll Live With You Again
  • 84. Brother, Friend, and Fellow Servant
  • 85. Grieve Not for Him
  • 86. Press On From Payson's Hill
  • 87. The Righteous Live in Me
  • 88. Homecoming
  • 89. In Honor of My Friends Unseen
  • 90. [An Invitation] We Call to You
  • 91. Fellow Americans, Let Us Talk
  • 92. Brothers and Sisters, Fulfilled Together
  • 93. What We Have Lost in Our Digital Paradise
  • 94. Running Out of Time
  • 95. Ere You Hear the Sound of Battle
  • 96. 21st Century Gadiantons
  • 97 The Setting Apart
  • 98. What Do You Say?
  • 99. To a Woman of Tempered Steel
  • 100. A Correction Soon Begins
  • 101. The Quiet of the Morning
  • 102. Slippery Slope
  • 103. Stormy--We've Got to Stop Meeting Like This
  • 104. Warriors of the Mind and Soul [Poetic Process Discussion]
  • 105. He Wrote Just as He Lived
  • 106. Life Singer
  • 107. Zion's Daughter Leanore
  • 108. Does Your House of Worship Now Seem Lonely
  • 109. Crucify the "Old Man of Sin"
  • 110. We Loved Them Once
  • 111. Winter's Mothers God Holds Most Dear
  • 112. Lord, Please Forgive Us Anew
  • 113. Patriot's Faith Will Triumph Yet
  • 114. Indexing
  • 115. I Am Liberty
  • 116. The Beauty
  • 117. To Aid the Innocents Abused
  • 118. A Noble Bugler Has Returned
  • 119. The Music of the Lord
  • 120. Frog Cat
  • 121. God's Storms
  • 122. The Daughters of the Lord
  • 123. Come Back, Before Our Souls for Error Yearn
  • 124. Don't Tell Me That My Time Has Come
  • 125. From the Dust [Comes The Book of Mormon]
  • 126 To See the Sun Again
  • 127. Mourning America
  • 128. For Baby Adam
  • 129. Despedida Ansiosa/Anxious Farewell
  • 130. Between the Lines
  • 131. Will You Ever Ask the Questions
  • 132. The Days I Spent With You
  • 133. For Nelda
  • 134. The Covenant Path
  • 135. Heartland Dream
  • 136 We Sent Our Very Best
  • 137. Sisters of the Covenant, Daughters of God
  • 138 Sisters Share Their Cheerful Hearts
  • 139 God Looketh On the Heart
  • 140 What of Me?
  • 141 The Return
  • 142 Latter-day Defenders
  • 143. "Come and See, Come and Help, Come and Share"
  • 144. The Best of Father's Seed I've Known
  • 145. He Sleeps But Does Not Rest
  • 146. When the Days of Wait Are Over
  • 147. Red Kettles and Silver Bells
  • 148. Victory
  • 149. He Lacks Not Faith
  • 150. "Am I a Friend of Jesus?"
  • 151. Christ is Our Refuge Once Again
  • 152. Until We Kneel at Our Savior's Feet
  • 153. Where You Stand, You Should Still Lift
  • 154. No Day Shall Pass nor Night Shall Fall
  • 155. We Pray for You
  • 156. Bountiful Harvest
  • 157. A Message of Peace and Love
  • 158. Israel, Israel God Shall Save Thee
  • 159. For Those Who Wait
  • 160. Friends Who Intercede
  • 161. Young Women's "Frog Camp"
  • 162. A Daughter of Zion
  • 163. For the Worthy Widows of Zion (A needed variation of 162)
  • 164 United for Christ
  • 165 The Challenge of a Firstborn Son
  • 166. In Honor of Grizzly Cadets
  • 167. When the Warrior Has Gone Home
  • 168. Christmas: Covenants Past, Present, and Future
  • 169. The Days We Spend With You
  • 170. The Two Are One, Once More
  • 171. The Wanderer
  • 172. I'll Follow Him
103.  Stormy:  "We've Got to Stop Meeting Like This"


BACKGROUND

No. 83 was the story of a beloved family pet, the tortoiseshell feline "B.J". Her passing left a painful hole in our family, and so, months later, we adopted a kitten from the local Animal Rescue Shelter.  However, our joy in her enthusiasm and sheer animation was short lived, as she died only a few weeks later.  

The phrase "we've got to stop meeting like this" has become a modern literary trope or device whereby we share with others a coincidental unhappy occurrence of some kind, and impliedly pray for no further repetition of such sorry events.  I still grieve for both losses.  [Some readers may note recurrence of a line or two from earlier pieces. It was not the first nor will it be the last time. Sometimes, it just seems "right".] 

103. STORMY

Too cute eyes in a fuzzy face; 
Feet that tickled in our hair--
Nothing ever can replace, 
This family member draped in fur. 

A stealthy stalk and a sudden pounce;
Acrobatics  in the air--
Pound for pound and ounce for ounce, 
None to our Stormy could compare. 

Sleeping for hours on our lap;
Losing herself in a bag or box--
We were all held captive by this little cat, 
Whose love, alone, kept our hearts’ lock. 

A lingering illness cruel and dark; 
A life-force every day less bright--
We grieved to watch her final spark,
Gone as a mercy in God’s sight. 

In selfishness our tears still fall; 
And sorrows pierce our pain-filled breast--
For this little kitten who gave us all, 
Until her final Heaven-sent rest. 

A promise made of eternal life; 
The witness of an empty grave--
‘Midst current tumult, grief and strife, 
We plead that Christ yet heal and save. 


LESSONS LEARNED

Stormy succumbed to "FIP" or Feline Infectious Peritonitis.  It is a virus found in many cats but only symptomatic in some. We learned that experts warn that "rescued cats", which have shared a common home with many others, are the most likely to develop FIP.  There is no cure. Thus, we learned that "studying things out" with regard to pets appears to involve pre-purchase research. Desperate for a replacement for B.J., we bought a $10 cat "on sale" at the animal shelter only to pay hundreds of dollars for futile care and suffer another bout of mourning.  We will "stop meeting like this" by purchasing (in some future happier day) an animal only after "due diligence" and collaboration with long-established breeders.  

A more profound insight came when my study of Doctrine and Covenants historical background affirmed how many early converts lost many children to disease and exposure arising from expulsion from their homes at the hands of mobs.  Despite such repeated, horrific losses, faithful LDS women rallied, endured to find refuge in the Utah Valley, and raised up outstanding new generations.  Both my wife and I (Benson and McClellan lines) are the progeny of such LDS heroines.  


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