TO A NEPHEW

You were just a boy,
A lad, not yet a man,
Yet I saw the promise
 of the years to be;
Thirteen years
And still yet 1 see,  
The man you promised you would be.

The shorts were gone, for schoolboy longs,
And you smiled and kissed me
 And yet were strong;
For you understood my breaking heart,
When as boy yet man
You said 'So long.'

And in the days that passed
1 thought of you,
 As did God in His kingdom
Watch you too.

He wanted men in strength not years,
A boy He knew who held no fear,
To stand beside Him and help his work
 For all young men upon this earth.

So bye for now my nephew strong,
You were a man all along,
And God knew that when He called your name,
Oh gentle heart that knew my pain,

                                    © Helen Catherine Cramer
                                        20th March, 1983.