Yesterday as our Sunday morning service was drawing to a close & we began singing the final hymn of the morning, my thoughts went racing back 10 years to an individual who attended our church briefly during the spring & summer of 2008. Our final hymn of the morning, God Will Take Care of You, always reminds me of him; that individual who brought so much joy & even a little bit of magic to our congregation.
I would later write a poem about him & that poem would even later be included in my very first book that was published in 2013. Of all the many poems I’ve written in my life, that particular poem has become one of my personal favorites & is the one poem from the book that readers never fail to comment on when they meet me & tell me they enjoyed it.
Because my memory still tingles as it always does when hearing that hymn yesterday & even though some of you may remember the poem if you’ve read my book, I wanted to share it again here as a blog entry. I simply wanted to share again … & with some of you for the first time … the “magic” this brief visitor brought to our church.
Of the subject of this poem, I hope he is still alive today; still delighting everyone he meets with his friendly, loving personality & still inspiring those with hope who find themselves disabled & with none. Mostly I hope he is still going to church …
Tripod Goes to Church
(August 3, 2008)
Tripod is an amputee,
who lives behind our church.
He greets us as we come and go
and doesn’t ask for much.
No one seems to know exactly
why he is disabled,
but he doesn’t let it slow him down;
his speed is the stuff of fables.
Lately as the service ends
and the doors are opened wide
he strolls into the narthex
then runs all the way inside.
He takes a seat down at the front
and stares up at the altar.
Through closing words and closing hymn
his attention doesn’t falter.
He’s always there on Sunday.
He seems the most devout.
While sitting at the altar
no one wants to toss him out.
He’s really quite a charmer.
Folks are bringing him cat food.
The choir sings as he’s walking out,
God Will Take Care of You
So what happened to Tripod? He very abruptly stopped showing up at church and, as with any member who has been faithful and stops coming to services, the congregation was worried about him. Our minister, maybe going a bit above and beyond his duties, tried to find out the fate of our faithful cat.
It seems Tripod DID actually have a family that lived down the road and behind our church. The family relocated and, thankfully, took Tripod with them.
Putting an end to speculation about the fate of Tripod, our minister announced, “We can assume he’s going to another church.”
heimdalco 