The End of Suffering

 

The young one’s sighs; the mother’s tears, 

The father’s cries; the old man’s fears.

Suffering - Oh it I can’t take;

But suffering - Oh! It is here to stay!

 

Buddha said desire’s the vice;

For Mohammed - a way to Paradise,

The Hindu says : Karma!

Maybe the next life’s not so dire.

 

The young bride lifts her head,

Lying on her wedding bed.

‘Tis here that her dreams will rust;

The bridegroom has turned to dust.

 

If desire; then no end to pain,

Not to desire is a desire again!

If Paradise it will assure:

Give me more! Give me more!

 

The little girl cries; lets out a sigh,

The cancer has spread; death is nigh.

Her body hurts with her every move;

But Mother’s heart aches much more!

 

If this is life, then kill me; Arise.

You may just send me to Paradise!

Or to peace that the next life hosts,

The Christian tells me it’s a hoax!

 

The father – Oh so loud he cried;

His young son had just died.

Oh! Had the killer not stabbed twice,

His hope in old age would have survived!

 

Life doesn’t end here; there’s eternity.

Suffer you have to; a fallen world’s not the best.

A few years on this side, on the other - infinity!

Live here as you ought to, and focus on the next.

 

For maybe there is purpose and form;

To all the suffering that you have borne.

Maybe it wasn’t because of what you had done,

Maybe there’s a reason one cannot fathom!

 

One day will I it fully understand;

When in front of my Master I stand!

Then it will all make perfect sense I know;

Things now am too naïve to comprehend!

flash animation downloaded from www.gieson.com

What a mighty God we serve!

This is a true story, that was published in one of the Duncan hospital annual reports. Read on.

She looked very calm and peaceful as she lay on the bed; though the endo-tracheal tube and the soft purring of the ventilator didn’t quite fit into the picture. The whole medical team looked intently on her face. The small beads of sweat on her forehead shone brilliantly in the glow of the fluorescent lamps lighting the ICU. A nurse started wiping her face. All of a sudden the girl made a snorting noise and her eyes popped out. For a moment every one stood stunned. Nobody knew what to do. But when she started pulling out the endo-tracheal tube, one of the doctors shouted, “She needs to be restrained.” And then after a short discussion with the team added, “We have to paralyze her. Her lungs need rest.”

Go back a couple of hours and you see this 16 year old newly married girl standing beside a field covered with water. This year it had rained so much that water had begun to fill up all potholes and farms. It was a rare sight. What if she had epilepsy? She was still going to see it. Now did she forget her medication or was she off them for a while? We do not know. What we do know is that she dragged her baby sister with her to see this splendid scene. And as she stood there at the edge of the field now filled up to the brim with water she threw a fit. She fell in such a manner that her head was within the water while her body remained outside.

There she lay fitting away and there was not a soul in sight except the little girl who had accompanied her. Now, what can a little girl do especially when a person is having convulsions? She tried to pull her out of the water but abandoned the idea when she realized she was not making any progress. Time for plan B. So she ran towards their house, met some people on the way and brought them to the field. Together they pulled her out and tried all they could to make her bring out all the water that had gotten in by now. When she did not open her eyes they knew it was time to go to the hospital.

That’s how Seema* ended up in Duncan hospital. She was hardly breathing when she arrived in the Emergency. And though she was promptly intubated she did not respond well as her lungs were filled with water. Soon she was shifted to the Intensive Care Unit (ICU.)

No, that is not where our story began. Within a few hours of admission, she arrested. No respiration. No heart rate. In plain English, she died. Cardio pulmonary resuscitation was initiated and after fifteen minutes which seemed like an hour, she started breathing spontaneously. Everyone there was so fascinated! The nurses, the doctors; in fact the whole team stood around the bed wide eyed. She started struggling against the tube and lines, and it was decided that she needed to be paralyzed. Now that is where our story began.

As the team dispersed for the night nobody expected to see Seema alive the next morning. On making rounds in the morning, they came to her bed, and lo and behold there was the girl sitting up and smiling without any tube in her mouth! Now one can conjure a hundred different hypotheses as to what had happened. But ask any one of the people who stood around the bed that day and you would hear, “This was the Lord’s doing. And it is marvelous in our eyes.” And that is what they told the girl. She and the family listened intently as somebody shared the gospel.

The floods brought us a lot of misery. There were crops destroyed, people left stranded without homes and sickness thrived. Many succumbed to cholera and other waterborne diseases. Snakebites claimed many lives. But we are so glad that among all that, it pleased the Lord to send this lovely girl here and work His wonder in her so that we could all realize and proclaim once again, “What a mighty God we serve.”

*not her real name

Life

L i f e

Life, it feels so easy when you're a child,

Though born into a world so big and so wild.

What worry is, you do not know;

When love is all you need to know.

New relationships are made by just a smile,

And a little crying gets you anything worthwhile.

When you're hurt, when you are scared,

To your mamma you run, crying.

And in her warmth all your fears, all your dread;

Melt like ice and your heart, it becomes so light.

The sore limb feels better, and you smile;

Because you're scared not a longer while.

The years like minutes pass by, and you grow up;

A child this moment, a responsible adult the next.

People, situations, relationships come along they all,

You're grown up and think you can take them all.

People change, relationships break and like ever,

Luck, she seldom seems to do you any favour.

You want to run, you want to hide;

But big boys don't run to their mothers and cry.

All that trouble leaves you lonesome and weary;

With a heart that's heavy and a feeling so dreary.

In despair you cry into your pillow all night;

Promising, tomorrow you'll come up with all might.

You hear a voice deep inside; powerful but mild,

Reminding you, you're grown up; no more a child.

It says you'll get over it like a hero true.

And you cry yourself to sleep hoping it's all true,

Wishing you still were a little child,

In your own little world gone wild.

The Rhyme of the Limping Kittens

The Rhyme of the Limping Kittens

There was just the three of them;

One was the mother, the other two kittens.

Came into my room the other day,

Scratching my toes and nibbling at them

The kittens made my day a very happy one.

I opened my door and out ran one;

And before I could stop down it went.

All three floors and just one more;

Before it kissed mother earth hard.

It gave a fit and then lay still.

I thought it had died but they;

Say that a cat has nine lives.

It moved, though after a while;

And while it strained to walk with a limp

I was grateful I had the other imp.

That one I named Sasha, and full of life was she;

She pulled its tail and bit its ear,

Though its response wasn't very clear.

What a joy it was to watch them play;

Sasha and the kitten that limped away.

And then it happened, Sasha fell;

Not unlike her brother just had.

It broke my heart to see her limp.

No longer did she scratch my toes or nibble at them,

My day thus ended a very sad one.