Never End at All

Song for Lauren O'Connell

I sent you a letter;

It came from within.

You didn’t reply,

But I didn’t expect it.

Still, I hope you read it;

I pray that you did;

I know nothing

More tragic than this:

To run out of hopeful songs

At nineteen!
To speak with our God,

Then forget what He means!

To look at the trees and the waters

And only see death!

To realize that everything isn’t okay

And conclude that you have nothing left!

And, Lauren, I feel you;

The world is so cold.

I’m just twenty-two;

I’ve already grown old.

And of all of the millions

Of options tomorrow,

Each precludes all others –

And each leads to sorrow.

Yet sometimes I think

As I realize the years

Are swifter than swallows

Impassioned with fears,

That it’s really a shame

That we no longer stay

Nine hundred summers

Awaiting the grave.

But then – I’m not sure
I could take that.

Yet the nail-scarred hands

Remain before our God.

And the One who came here once

Will come again.

And the One who raised His Son

Will raise us too.

And He knows your name

However great your sin.

And He knows your pain,

For He’s been where you’ve been.

And the One who made the world

Will make it new.

And the Judge of all the earth –

He will be true.

And good things may end badly

When they fall,

But some good things

Will never end at all.

And, Lauren, I feel you;

The world is so cold.

I’m just twenty-two;

I’ve already grown old.

Sometimes choosing sides

Takes a long, deadly fight,

So I do not despair

If you’re wrong for a night;

My only fear for you

Is that you may never be right.