Memento Mori , by McErlean

My kids, often amaze me at how wonderfully observant they are and how much they remember.
Tonight, my 11 year old son was reading aloud, his evenings reading requirement, Greek Mythology. I still can't believe they teach this in 6th grade. The boy was observant enough to notice the similarities between the Underworld in C.S. Lewis' book, the Silver Chair and Hell as described in his school text. He said, there was a river in the Underworld, just like the Styx and Hades was like the Witch of the Underworld.

I hope I remember these days of seeing their brilliance.

Anyway, the whole subject is a bit macabre... or carpe diem... or Memento Mori like.

It lead me to start searching for a book of poems called Momento Mori, by Richard McErlean.

From page 33,
A SONG FOR MY CHILDREN
by, Richard McErlean

How will you remember me?
What stories will you tell?
What images will stay with you?
What words of mine will make your own?
What walks we took and laughs we shared
will you keep in your heart?

Once I'm gone, or once you're gone,
someday we'll go away;
I wish I could hold you forever like this,
like I can today.
Life is what happens between goodbyes,
it's love that brings us back.
I'll worry about that tomorrow.
I still have you here today.

I don't feel like a daddy,
I just feel like me,
like I've always felt
but to you, I know
how important I must be.
So I try to be so many things:
storyteller, teacher, friend,
listener, learner, and
you are so pure and innocent.
I never want to see that go.
But all these things will fly away
and this is true, I know...

Once I'm gone, or once you're gone,
someday we'll go away;
I wish I could hold you forever like this,
like I can today.
Life is what happens between goodbyes,
it's love that brings us back.
I'll worry about that tomorrow,
I still have your love today.

This morning I picked you up
and held you in my arms.
I saw us in the mirror
heart to heart and eye to eye.
Like this, we dance,
but this time your feet,
they tapped against my knees.
It won't be long, I thought,
she'll soon be leaving me.

The force of life that sent you here
will be the force that pulls us apart.
There is no goodbye without heartbreak
but no heartbreak without a heart.

Once I'm gone, or once you're gone,
someday we'll go away;
I wish I could hold you forever like this,
like I can today.
Life is what happens between goodbyes,
it's love that brings us back.
I'll worry about that tomorrow,
I still have your love today.

How will I survive all of those goodbyes?
What will you remember, when you turn the page?
I'll worry about it tomorrow.
I still have you here today.