Featured Poet ~ Fall/Winter 2018
Dorothy Altstatt Burchard is 92. Mother of 10, Grandmother to 32, and Great Grandmother to 30, and there is at least one bun in the over, as she says. She has three college degrees and is the reader of thousands of books. She is a plant and garden aficionado who knows the names of every plant in Latin! Jigsaw puzzle slayer! Pick-up truck driver! When she receives calls she answers on her smart phone as she drives around town running errands. She finds no time to be lazy or get self-absorbed. Her 2 activities are love and go.
I WANT TO STAY
I DON’T WANT TO GO
I WANT TO STAY.
LORD HEAR MY PLEA
DON’T TAKE ME AWAY!
A GOD SO CRUEL
HE TAKES AWAY
THOSE WE LOVE.
WE CANNOT STAY.
HE GIVES US LOVE
SO STRONG IT WEEPS
BUT LOVE CAN’T STOP
HIS LOVE TO KEEP.
I’M OLD,
I’M UGLY,
I’M EVEN POOR,
AND MOST OF ME DON’T WORK NO MORE.
MY TEETH,
MY EARS,
AND EVEN MY EYES,
SO MUCH HAS GONE I’M BEGINNING TO DIE.
WE SUFFER.
FATE LAUGHS.
TO LIVE ONLY IS HARD,
YET WE HOLD ON SO TIGHT
THOUGH THE BODY IS TIRED.
TIRED BUT UNWAVERING
WE STILL WANT TO STAY.
WE PRAY DAY AND NIGHT
DON’T TAKE ME AWAY.
NO, I DON’T WANT TO GO!
I STILL WANT TO STAY!
LORD HEAR MY PLEA
DON’T TAKE ME AWAY!
I WANT TO STAY!
This is a video I had shared in a post here a couple of years ago of her reading the poem on her 90th birthday.
Just days after the issue’s release Dorothy passed away.