A WORLD WHERE NORM WILL NO MORE BE by bzephyr

I am posting this as less of a duet and more of a token of appreciation. I appreciated getting to be involved in such a beautiful poetic moment.  bzephyr asked me to write a duet with him about the life and death of his Uncle. The following post was born.  bzephyr is by far the most intellectual thinker I have ever tried to write with.  I really didn’t write any of this but offered what I hope ended up being a few lines of inspiration.  Visit his inspiring blog here.

A world where norm will no more be by bzephyr

The lines below were penned after I received the news a bit more than a week ago that my great uncle Norm had left this earth after 88 years and gone to be with Jesus. He and my dear Aunt Doris had recently celebrated 65 years of marriage. At nearly 6’6″ Uncle Norm was the biggest man I had ever seen when I first met him as a small boy. Even more than his sheer size, the stories my father told of him pioneering in the Pacific Northwest made him larger than life to me. With his big “Cat” bulldozer and his crew of men and logging trucks, he would contract work from the forest service, and the adventures that he had as they pioneered new roads and slipped down rugged mountain slopes are the stuff that hero tales are made of.

Yet more than all that, Uncle Norm represents to me the strength of character and firm faith of one who was confident that he served the King and Creator of the majestic world surrounding him. And he also served his family, community, and fellow man with the same kindness of Another who had stooped so low to care for a world in need to lead them to a higher place and a better Home. My family and I have benefited from Uncle Norm and Aunt Doris’s daily prayers on our behalf. I wish that I’d have had the chance to live closer to him and experience life with my Uncle Norm more intimately. I know that Norm provided a certain exceptional quality of life that is joy and peace and strength to those who lived within the shade of his shelter, anything but the norm in this present world with dark valleys and with devils filled. But Uncle Norm and I share in the confident hope of an abundant adventure of the new and glorious creation of our Savior, whose life and light will have no end for those who trust in him.

…a giant tree’s been felled this morn

this norm, i hardly knew

and though half a world away i too am shaken

and long that i could go

home,

where my dad grew roots

with other boughs of family line,

had nearly split apart,

yet for this sapling and my seed

the Wind has carried far

and we know not our mountain land

that beckons in my blood.

it’s kin is dear to them who are so very close to me

but i mourn the loss i can not now find,

this giant of a man.

…a servant of creation’s King

this norm, i hardly knew

is summoned forth to hear “well done”

while i, in service yet, remain in this world

history,

where relations whom i wish i’d known

impressed their hands like works of art for all to see

deep in the planet’s soil

engineered behind the scenes

not only earth’s terrains,

fine landscapes brushed on hearts and souls

in a little place that calls to me,

a dale, with those to whom i’d flee,

a town where faithful home was made,

a world where norm will no more be.

…a big ol’ rig has slipped down new road

this norm, i hardly knew

and too, though in another world, my view is cleared

to use whatever Master’s “cat” might cut new bush

highway,

where humps and roadblocks bar the way

and trail’s end is yet uncharted

by brothers, sisters too, in fellowship,

heirs who share our Pioneer’s faith

on paths to home or distant shores,

blazed with blood and sweat and prayer,

roads revealing old and New, tracks to reunite.

earthly routes both smooth and worn, dirt and stone,

will not endure like narrow Way that we must seek,

converging on that golden Street.

such norm of life that some have known

through highways, history and house

has come and gone, though we’re not surely left alone.

a taller Tree has toppled death and new creation grows,

uniting every clan on earth to serve their King,

alive again, and bound for our true Home…

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The verses above are a poetic duet that I wrote with some help from a fellow pilgrim of the faith after reading this other poetic duet moments after I heard the news that my Uncle Norm had waved goodbye to this earth. Thanks Hasty for your thoughtful input on stanzas four and six.