1st Sonnet to the Tulsan

One  thing I fear in all the earth.
It is not death, I dread not grave nor ground.
My trust in Christ the lord is ever sound
And He has given gifts of priceless worth.

Nor is it pain of flesh or worse,
An illness that corrupts and throbs and wounds.
Those come as they will come, and if I’m found
To have some such, I’ll greet it with a curse.

No, what I fear is that I still would be,
But lose control of brain and thought and mind.
So that I don’t remember I love you.
So that I don’t remember you love me.
So that I don’t remember all the kind
And joyful years we lived and loved so true.

March 2007