There was a time . . .

It was my intent to give this toast at my oldest daughter's wedding. Tisha and Mark were the perfect couple --smart, beautiful, confident, perfect. I decided that evening that my toast would be our dance. It was obvious to all that Tisha didn’t need another excuse to stand and smile. She wasn't feeling well but she glowed that night.

There was a time . . .
When you were just three.
You road on my shoulders
And bounced on my knee.
We loved you so.
Your future was bright.
A color shone forth,
Pink was the light.

There was a time . . .
When you were near six.
Your sister was coming,
A twist to the mix.
We loved you so.
Your future was bright.
A color shone forth,
Yellow the light.

There was a time . . .
When eleven you were.
Your voice, a delight.
Your life was a blur.
We loved you so.
Your future was bright.
A color shone forth,
Green was the light.

There was a time . . .
When you were sixteen.
Confusion, emotions
Appeared on the scene.
We loved you so.
No future this day.
A color shone forth
The light was Gray.

There was a time . . .
When twenty appeared.
The challenge, so great.
The past, we all feared.
We loved you so.
Your future was there.
The color shone forth
Gold like your hair.

There was a time . . .
A few years ago.
When someone named Mark
Entered your life’s flow.
We loved you so.
Your future was bright.
A color shone forth,
Silver the light.

Today’s the time . . .
When joy joins to glad.
A toast to you both
From your mom and dad.
We LOVE you both.
Your futures ARE bright.
A color shines forth,
The color is White

God Bless

Two days later, Tisha was dead. My friend, Stan, and I finished the poem in preparation of the funeral. From an incredible high to an unimaginable low in just two days. The entire poem was part of the funeral ceremony.

There is no time . . .
No color at all.
And there are no answers
To questions I call.
A moment ago,
Your future was bright
But now in the darkness
I look for some light.

My daughter, my darling,
Mark’s wife for just days,
My spirit’s been broken
In so many ways.
I wander unseeing
As now, from above
It’s your light that shines forth
In RAINBOWS of Love.

Your Dad

From Tisha and Mark’s Wedding Bulletin

“Here is the stuff of which fairy tales are made, the prince and the princess on their wedding day. But fairy tales usually end at this point with the simple phrase, ‘They lived happily ever after.’ This may be because fairy tales regard marriage as an anticlimax after the romance of courtship. This is not the Christian view. Our faith sees the wedding day not as a place of arrival but the place where the adventure begins.”

Robert Runcie
Archbishop of Canterbury

Why is it that no one knows how long "ever after" is? Tisha was a "princess." Her brief time with Mark a Fairy Tale. Her life too short. God be with you, T.