Inspiration hard earned
by Bryce Martin

My grandfather composed a tribute to his and my grandmother’s son, my father, who died in the service of his country.

A beautiful sympathy card from Mrs. J. P. Gilbert, Route 1, Box 98, Galena, Kans., was sent to my grandparents November 14, 1944.

Some of the words in the message inspired my grandfather to write a poem, which he later turned into a song he would sometimes sing. The lines that triggered the composition were: “Do not think that you have lost him/For that could never be….” (Italics mine).

Overseas
By Noah Martin

Oh, my darling, come put your arms around me,
For they say you are going away,
Going away they say, far across the sea.

Little did I think when a baby in my arms,
You would be taken from me and sent across the sea.

Darling, when you are far away,
Just pray and think of me,
A broken hearted mother far back across the sea.

Just a kind word, I pass it on to you,
I am a broken hearted father,
His son he longs to see, but that can never be,
For he was sent far across the sea.

Be not hasty in what you say to your darling boy,
For he too may be sent across the deep blue sea.

They say as time passes on, memory grows dim,
But with me that will never be,
For he was sent across the deep blue sea.