Sojourning: Truth and Hope

I wrote this poem in April 1992. At the time, my children, Adam and Melissa, were living with their mother 800 miles away. My ex-wife was very insecure about my children’s love for me. She told them things about me that were…um, less than true. (I’m attempting to be diplomatic here, since she and I get along relatively well now.)

I made a decision then to never say negative things to my kids about their mother, nor even contradict the negative things she said. I lived with a horrible fear that my children, so far from me, would be turned against me; but I resolved to live in truth and hope for the best.

My hope in the truth was rewarded. My children came to recognize and learn the truth from both myself and their mother. To my surprise, their mother called me this year to sincerely apologize for some of her actions during that turbulent time, an apology for which I am enormously grateful and humbled.

The poem gained a second significance for me when my second wife left me, and I was powerless to stop it. Again I lost my children, my step-children this time. Again I am resolved to be true to myself and hope that my step-children know the love and sacrifice I gave to them. I love them like my own.

Of all my peotry, this one hangs in large print on my refrigerator; it is that important to me. I read it almost every day.

Truth and Hope

One day
my children will know
the truth.

One day
my children will know
my love.

I will not tell them
yet they will know.
The truth from their hearts
will grow
as my love for them
shows.

Lies can not last;
truth is everlasting.
Hate can not conquer;
love will conquer all.

If this is not so,
then I am a fool.
Destroy me now
for I no longer desire
to live.

Mark Hamby
April 1992