Jan. 19

The illness of your child can make you old;
the death of your child can make God seem cold.

Is it hard to be tall and strong, young man,

when life is too hard a strain?

Do people assume you are what you seem

when your inner child weeps with the pain?

What we really are remains unknown.

What God intends is not clearly shown.

But there's a friend more close than a brother.