Chris writes a response to Tennyson’s poem, “In Memoriam”
Alfred Lord Tennyson, “In Memoriam”
Be near me when my light is low,
When the blood creeps, and the nerves prick
And tingle; and the heart is sick,
And all the wheels of being slow.
Be near me when the sensuous frame
Is rack’d with pangs that conquer trust;
And Time, a maniac scattering dust,
And Life, a Fury slinging flame.
Be near me when my faith is dry,
And men the flies of latter spring,
That lay their eggs, and sting and sing
And weave their petty cells and die.
Be near me when I fade away,
To point the term of human strife,
And on the low dark verge of life
The twilight of eternal day.
Christopher Chok, “Forget Me”
Forget me when I’ve done my best,
When all my slogging amounts to nothing
And seem paltry in light of eternity,
And I struggle to take that final breath.
Forget me when all I can feel,
Is futility and despondency, And desolation’s supremacy Such’s my soul’s ordeal.
Forget me when all I see,
Is past’s pain and misery. There’s no leniency
Amidst life’s mystery.
Forget me when I bid farewell,
To all of life’s terrible toils
And body’s bruises and boils,
As I flee from this temporal hell.
© 2018 Christ Centered Convo/Christopher Chok