The NEW Church

Dreams of Life

When I was in High School, my mum was redecorating an old-people's home. My brother and sisters and I often spent after-school time helping out around the home.
There were a lot of elderly people there, each with their own story. One lady sat in the foyer of the home, every day, waiting for her visitors. She was always dressed and ready for a great day out and she would tell anyone and everyone, "My children are coming to visit me today. They're bringing the little ones too!" She sat there every day. And, in the three months that I was around, she never received one visitor.
This poem was written while thinking of that lonely old lady. I imagined what turns my life would have taken by the time I sat in her seat.

Dreams of life (a poem)
By David Edgren

I remember the years of my young life
I was a high strung and active lad
I remember building castles in the sky
I was going to be the most famous
I was going to run my own business
I was never going to lose a thing
I knew how things worked.

She and I met our senior year
She had long smooth brown hair
She had deep green jeweled eyes
She was everything I ever wanted
She was obviously what I needed
She had plans for her life too
She and I got married.

We both worked in order to make it
We had an average life like others
We made monthly payments on a car
We bought a home as an investment
We had a boy first and then a girl
We loved them and showed them that
We gave them all we had.

They both had a unique way about them
They were so different and so the same
They grew up so fast we barely kept up
They started school and soon high school
They both saw what they could be and have
They each had great dreams for their lives
They both married and started a new life.

We were alone again and it was strange
We were not used to such a quiet house
We worked for ten more years or so
We retired and decided to take it easy
We travelled from place to place
We saw as much as we could see
We were happy together.

She was everything I ever wanted
She was obviously what I needed
She loved me through the years
She stayed for both good and bad
She started loosing her balance
She had to be put in a home
She died two years ago today.

I look back an awful lot these days
I spend a lot of time in laughter
I spend a lot of time in tears
I sit outside in the evenings
I play games in the parlor
I was never the most famous
I have lost many things.

They have busy lives these days
They both have jobs and children
They send cards once in a while
They write letters when they can
They called today to plan a visit
They said they'll bring the kids
They should be here soon.

A Little Clay

A Little Clay (a song)
By David Edgren

I remember when your father and your mother came to me.
They asked me if a child was a good thing to be.
They asked me if they could raise a child in my way.
They asked if a child was a good thing to have today.

In answer I reached down and picked up a little clay.
I formed you in my hands and set you on your way.
Your mother and your father, they had a baby boy.
They raised you like a king, They gave you every toy.

I formed you in my hands
to walk by my plans
to be my child
to be meek and mild.

Now I see you walking down life’s path, going your own way.
I watch your mother and your father each night as they pray.
They ask me if their child was really formed by me.
They ask me if their child was really meant to be.

If only they knew I've offered you my hand.
If only they knew you walk by your own demands.
If only I could show them how very hard I've tried.
If only I could show them how many times I've cried.

I formed you in my hands
to walk by my plans
to be my child
to be meek and mild.

I've got another mother and father calling now
Their asking the same questions and I don't know how
To tell them I can't make a perfect child anymore
To tell them that their baby might walk out their door.

You turned to me today and I heard you finally say
Your coming back to me to follow in my way.
You said your tired of being away from my hand.
You said you want to live someday in my land.

In answer I reached down and picked up a little clay.
I've just formed another child and set her on her way.

I formed her in my hands
to walk by my plans
to be my child
to be meek and mild.

The Screaming Silence

The Screaming Silence (a poem)
by David Edgren

I screamed into the night
I called out to the dark
I yelled to the hills
but my arrow missed its mark

I wish that I could find you
in the darkness shining
but loneliness and silence
on my hopes are dining

Where is the God I was promised
the one who stays through thick and thin
where is the God who answers
the calls of shouting men

It seems that I've been screaming
for days and days on end
I'll have to stop my calling
and allow my voice to mend

Slowly my voice tapers to silence
my throat throbs pounding pain
I sit on a rock under the trees
then I hear it simple and plain

A voice trickles through the silence
gently it whispers so fine
"That's quite a voice you have
now listen to mine.”