Poem December 4, 1943 Issue

Contemporaries

EDITH GADDIS BREWER

Gallant young soldier waiting to be called,
And I, who have scored my threescore years and ten,
We stand together facing the same foe,
The last to be encountered and overcome
With the ultimate proof that Life can never end.
For me as well as you, life that could cease
Would be a contradiction of itself.
We dare to challenge death to do its worst,
And for our grand adventure stand we here
Shoulder to shoulder waiting for the call,
But always that call must be of Life, not death.
I, called an old man, and you so young, so young,
Meet in a common moment but with such forward gaze
That we scarce see each other as we look,
Our sight quite filled with that which must be done
Ere we can win the assurance which we seek
And, unafraid, can say there is no death.
For all our part is overcoming fear,
And free from that mesmeric cloud we see
The breaking dawn of that eternal day
In which we stand together, you and I,
Above the clouds—in omnipresent Life,
Our transitory moment lengthened to forever-and-forever.
Let us pray.

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