Friday, January 28, 2022

Of Footfall Frames

Each day is a 'footfall frame'! (no! not a football game. that's in a few weeks)😅
May we pay careful attention to the echoes we are composing
that will fill its frame tonight and eventually the frame of a lifetime!

Today a man I worked for, for eight years in days gone by, Merlen Kropf is being laid to rest.
Due to ongoing covid-restriction making traditional funerals impossible,
many will pay tribute to him by lining the streets of his hometown as the funeral procession passes.
We all have our own set of precious memories to accompany our tears...
And even though he lived to a ripe old age, 
Numbered Days is such a brief stage!

While I was employed by him
Merlen honoured me by taking a genuine interest in my love for writing poetry.
(a very busy businessman! Can you believe it?!)

Below is one from the archives that they put in their Christmas grocery flyer.


He often invited me to write something at Christmas for the flyer 
or the L&M Christmas Banquet 
one of those poems being In Search of Christmas Day,
many years later recorded by Scott Woods Band

I loved taking great pride in the instore bakery showcases and shelves
Below, photos of a few old photo-album pages


(And as I met Merlen occasionally throughout the following years
he took such a kind interest in my life/family
 and paid many beautiful compliments!)

Death makes us ponder more somberly
 the footfalls we are leaving behind
(doesn't it?!!) 
on this common ground of today!

This, while a Freedom Convoy rolls toward Ottawa
and passions are running at all-time highs in many Canadian breasts...

'God keep our land glorious and free'

as we are all part of a Convoy rolling toward eternity!
What/Who is fueling our cause?!!


The footfalls of a cast soon Past are rolling through the land
Where choice becomes the voice that draws its pictures in time’s sand
Where recompense of consequence always follows the act
No matter how we try to thwart the matters of this fact
Then pray as we step onto dawn’s fresh stage beneath our feet
For love, more kind and tender love for everyone we meet

How easily we prove by choice, what whets our appetites
As we move toward finish lines where we have set our sights
Desire is a fire that burns in each one of us
While morning unto morning turns into The Day That Was
Then pray desire’s flames are fueled not by spite or greed
But by love, kind and tender love for we of common need

The rise and fall of reason rolls with the call of the cause
Where carriages of Deathless Soul are like frail wisps of gauze
That appear for a little while and then we are no more
The echo of footfalls soon muffled by Now’s crowds that roar
Then pray, as each today is soon snuffed by a starry sea
For love, more kind and tender love to be our legacy

How long the Aftermath of Moment holds its frozen sway
How ever-so-important is the toll of day-to-day
Where, God, not time, is on our side and works for our good
If we love Him; then pray we love each other like we should
Before this life God grants becomes ‘their’ flood of tears that brim
Where how we love each other proves the love we have for Him

© Janet Martin

This verse is included at the end of Merlen's obituary

For God so loved the world
that He gave his only begotten Son
that whosoever believes in Him should not perish
but have everlasting life
John 3:16

Oh pray our lives may mirror His love in us
to our fellowman!

Matt.5:43-48
You have heard that it was said, ‘Love your neighbor i and hate your enemy.’
 44But I tell you, love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you,
 45that you may be children of your Father in heaven. 
He causes his sun to rise on the evil and the good, 
and sends rain on the righteous and the unrighteous. 
46If you love those who love you, what reward will you get? 
Are not even the tax collectors doing that?
 47And if you greet only your own people,
what are you doing more than others? 
Do not even pagans do that? 
48Be perfect, therefore, as your heavenly Father is perfect.



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