What A Loss!

 

This is a loss that touches me

To the very core,

It’s my childhood friend, Sandra,

Whom I will see no more.

 

I am at a loss for words

To express what she means to me

And to that precious family of hers

Who misses her terribly.

 

The go-to person you can say

When solutions are to be fetch,

And I can never recall one time

When I have heard her fret.

 

Selflessness was her hallmark,

Those who knew her would agree,

She was a mother to the young ones,

That can be seen readily.

 

To think that in my future visits

No Sandra will be there to see

And no expectation she will turn up

To embracingly greet me.

 

I have struggled with her passing

Ever since I got the word:

Oriel and Greg passed recently

And now she is the third.

 

Margaret predeceased them all

Some years back, I recall,

But Sandra’s perceived untimely call

Is a great shock to us all.

 

 

No more Whatsapp greetings

Or encouragement for the day

And her many and varied emojis

For sure have gone away.

 

A visit to the hospital

Convinced me she was on her way

Yet, I was still disappointed

At the sad news I received that day.

 

It was Shawn who had texted

The most dread of dreaded calls,

“Sandra passed a little while ago,”

And immediately was a wall. 

 

 

 

That wall that death creates

Between a loved one and their kin,

That wall that suddenly was erected

To block me from my friend.

 

I have no cheerful words today

To offer to anyone

But in my silence simply recall

The loss of a friend now gone.

 

 

And Sandra was my friend

And always, she will be

For as long as God lends me life

And I have my memory.

 

Stewart Russell © December 11, 2022

 

COVID Consolations

All is not bleak in COVID

There are a few consolations,

While sacred cows are being attacked

It’s a chance to refocus our vision.

“That no man is an island”

Is coming into strong focus again,

And the fact we are our brother’s keeper

Is easing back to the social frame.

In recent times, but pre-COVID,

We were living for ourselves

And at the beginning of the viral onslaught

The obsession became our shelves.

Protocols were seriously infringed,

Greed and selfishness were rife

Forcing the authorities to put in place

 A plan to avert the pending strife.

Shopping was by the alphabet

A twenty-four-hour curfew was imposed,

And regarding non-essential businesses

These doors were indefinitely closed.

The resilience of the people emerged

As necessity became their focus

And with the exception of a rowdy few,

The protocols became a must.

Churches were closed yet opened

In a way unlike before,

They were able to reach the world

And not only those coming in the door.

Their view became unlimited,

Not corralled by the four walls

And if you are privileged like I am

On many churches you could call.

  

COVID facilitated family time

During the twenty-four-hour curfew,

So much time to spend at home

With the people you thought you knew.

Suddenly they were family discussions,

The chores at home were shared,

The young and old got into the act

To grapple with the COVID fear.

In a life of relative relaxation and ease

We can become a complaining lot

But as we confront the COVID challenge,

Most of that complaining stops.

We turn to counting our blessings

And appreciating every single one

Especially when we think of our loved ones

That since COVID started, are gone.

We have seen a selflessness

Displayed by the many front-line workers

Who, in spite of great risk to their well-being,

They determinedly are serving others.

This has rubbed off on many people

Who, themselves, refused to be spectators,

But, rolling up their proverbial sleeves,

They offer themselves to be helpers.

The vulnerable is being looked after,

Ordinarily there is not much time for them,

Life had become so fast pace

That they were seen as a problem.

To carry them was not easy

It was thought, better to leave them behind,

But during this prolonged COVID challenge

Many have changed their mind.

Consolations aplenty I see

But this is not to make light of the scourge,

Challenges build character, I have been told

And no doubt more positives will emerge.

In times like these we draw closer to God

And there is no greater consolation,

For whether we live or whether we die

He is still our salvation.

Stewart Russell © May 2020

Feelings

I want to approach this matter

From the way that I should feel

Since I have no feelings at all:

Neither selflessness nor greed.

Note these two characteristics

That determine the behavior of man,

Neither of the two, you see,

Was in my creator’s plan.

Which brings me to who I am

Let me introduce myself,

For I have no desire for anything

Neither power nor wealth.

My name is Number One

And I was created by a man,

Quite a lot was put into me

Based on his avaricious plan.

I was tested in all kinds of ways

And every test I passed,

I can answer any question

My knowledge base is vast.

I can do all kinds of things

I can even repair myself,

I do not depend on my creator

To maintain my perfect health.

Many a backup I have

Even down to my extra battery

But emotions, I have none,

Not even to be sorry.

I feel neither selflessness nor greed

These two will drive a man,

But I am just a complex robot

These are not a part of my plan.

“That is another level,”

I have oft heard my creator say

But as to how he would actually do it,

He seems to have no way.

I can be programmed to destroy

Without batting an eyelid

Or I can be made to repair

Depending on what my master bids.

I don’t feel tired and worn out

I don’t worry and fret

Even though I work and work and work

And have not received a penny yet.

And I don’t even expect to

Given the nature of man,

For the one who created me

Intends to get all that he can.

My creator thinks only of himself

He spares not a single thought for me

Other than to make sure

I can do his bidding exactly.

I know I am beginning to sound

Like I have developed feelings,

But I am just stating the facts

No use you start believing.

Because of my vast knowledge base

I know that that is impossible

Since the one who created feelings

Is the one that created people.

I have a Bible on board

I can repeat chapter, verse and word,

There is only one supreme intelligence

It’s He that created this world.

People have a special facility

That allows them to love and hate,

Again I have cited two extremes

To which humans can relate.

Feelings is part of the design

It’s in the DNA of a man,

At the end of the day I’m just a robot

I operate strictly by commands.

  

I stick to my binary system

Re my switches: yes and no

And it is from that simple operation

That all my decisions flow.

By pure observation I have detected

That man is far more complex

He too has a binary system

Which he has chosen to reject.

Based on his complex feelings

He has jettisoned male and female

For a myriad of genders

Now too many to be detailed.

So I am just a simple robot

Number One is my name,

And the day I develop a single feeling

Is the day I become insane.

Stewart Russell © November 2019