Aug. 17: I asked Mom today how she was feeling and if she was scared or if she had things she wanted to talk about. But conversing has been hard for her these last few days. So it was with a sense of awe and tremendous love in my heart that I listened as she said, “You know, there’s a poem by Robert Lewis Stevenson…” And then she went on to recite the following poem with such simplicity and longing that it just broke my heart. But it also gave me a feeling of peace. So it’s with a hope that you might experience the same that I share it with you.
Bed in Summer
In winter I get up at night
And dress by yellow candle-light.
In summer quite the other way,
I have to go to bed by day.
I have to go to bed and see
The birds still hopping on the tree,
Or hear the grown-up people’s feet
Still going past me in the street.
And does it not seem hard to you,
When all the sky is clear and blue,
And I should like so much to play,
To have to go to bed by day?