Today I watched a child who I baptized in March of this year go home to be with her Lord. I have decided to write a poem for Nautica because she is worthy of a poem.
She is certainly worthy of a better poem than this. I am no poet and make no claim to understand poetry or the structure of it (which will be evident) or any such thing.
But if poetry simply means the expression of the human heart when it has been deeply moved, then I at least have warrant to put it here. Regardless, it is for Nautica, and for her mother, Teona.
Talitha Cumi
[Written on the occasion of the death of a child recently baptized.]
Taking her by the hand he said to her, “Talitha cumi,” which means, “Little girl, I say to you, arise.”
Mark 5:41
“Jesus is Lord,” she said
almost in a whisper
in March of this year
when I baptized her
the little girl
saying the ancient creed
before the body of Christ
who cheered and “amen’d”
“Jesus is Lord,” she said
when I asked for her confession
and the water was almost neck high
where she stood and smiled
“Jesus is Lord,” she said
three words
that have changed the world
(including her own)
she said it
and I buried her
under the water
and in the Name
but only for a moment
for she rose from the water
because death doesn’t get the victory
over those who say the Name
“Jesus is Lord,” she said
and we will bury her again
in earth this time
from whence she came
but only for a moment
for the ground will not hold her
just as the water could not
and she will rise
because of the Name
“Jesus is Lord!”
little girls don’t stay buried
death doesn’t win
then she said it in the water
now face to face
“Jesus is Lord,” she is whispering
and He is whispering back…
“Yes, and I love you little girl.”