I DID PERSEVERE

Your daughter was three when it happened,
An accident that left you disabled for life.
No words can describe the dire agony I felt
Faced with the enormity of what life had dealt.

I recall you saying “I can not walk but I can see;
Nature’s beauty all around is still there for me.
"My child, I can no longer run and play with you,
But every day I will give you my tender love anew."

Almost every day I took your child to the park;
We planted gardens, laughed, and built an ark.
Not once did she return home to Mom after play,
Without a bouquet of flowers picked along the way

She was a good child with elegant poise and grace,
Always a twinkle in her eye and a smile on her face.
She became a beautiful young lady as time went by,
You could not hide she was the apple of your eye

I saw tears in your eyes when she received a prize.
“Is this my child now so gracious, loving and wise?
Let me shout!  I have conquered loneliness and fear,
I have overcome life’s adversities, I did persevere!”

Erwin Schalm