Moving Forward: Poems of Faith, Life & Loss

By Thomas C. Smith

This book is a collection of poems I have written throughout my life. I started writing when I was in high school. The early poems were for girls that I knew. No copies of these were kept.

I started to retain copies in college. My poems moved from just words to life stories, personal thoughts and my God. I have shared some with a few friends, which for me is difficult, because I tend to keep most everyone at arms length.

My journey has been filled with lifes up and downs and my poems reflect the joys and sorrows I experienced and some you may have experienced. Most important for me is that Jesus is my constant companion who rejoices with me in the good times and carries me through the hard times.

Psalm 23: The Lord is my shepherd, I shall not be in want.
NIV He makes me to lie down in green pastures,
he leads me beside quiet waters,
he restores my soul.
He guides me in paths of righteousness
for his names sake.
Even though I walk
through the valley of the shadow of death,
I will fear no evil, for you are with me,
your rod and your staff,
they comfort me.
You prepare a table before me
in the presence of my enemies.
You anoint my head with oil,
my cup overflows.
Surely goodness and love will follow me
all the days of my life,
and I will dwell in the house of the Lord
forever.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Xlibris US
• Release date: Sep 29, 2011
• ISBN: 9781465371324

Thomas C. Smith

I was born June 30th 1949 in the Naval Academy Hospital at Annapolis, Maryland. My family moved to Miami, Florida when I was six months old. In 1954, my father passed away. My mother had to raise four children on her own. We continued to live in Miami and I still reside there to this day. I am very active in my church where I currently serve as a Deacon. I also am a member of the Drama Team. I enjoy sports and coach and play on the church’s softball team. I also perform in plays at the Pelican Playhouse, a local community theatre in Miami Springs. I have experienced a number of traumatic times in my life but none greater than the death of my son in 2006 at the age of thirty. I only survived because I have a deep faith in my Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ and with the support from Christian brothers and sisters. I can not imagine life without him as my guiding force. May his peace, love and hope envelope your life as he has mine.

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Copyright © 2011 by Thomas C. Smith.

Library of Congress Control Number:       2011917364

ISBN:         Hardcover                               978-1-4653-7131-7

                   Softcover                                 978-1-4653-7130-0

                   Ebook                                      978-1-4653-7132-4

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or by any information storage and retrieval system, without permission in writing from the copyright owner.

This book was printed in the United States of America.

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105648

Contents

Father, I Wish

Chasing Dreams

Choices

Old Westerns

Keep Moving

Hope For Tomorrow

Just a Game

A Time

Far Away

I’ll Take It Day by Day

To Love Again

Hearts That Beat No More

Lonely Nights

The Battle

Minds Change

I’ve Failed

Caring

To Know Is To Give

Fear

Lord Settle Me

Happy Birthday Sweetheart

Be My Valentine

Our Third Christmas

Birthdays

Standing for a Fall

The Real Reason

Who Can I Turn To

Have You

Hidden Shadows

Heartache and Sorrow

My God

Friends

The Mirror

Yesterday’s Tomorrow’s

Confused

Roads Traveled

An Empty Shell

Only A Prayer Away

I Know You’ve Lost Too

Thoughts and Struggles

Communication

To My Son

Home With You

My Only Son

You Were Suppose To

I’ll See You Again

Just The Two Of Us

Even With Answers

Trying to Find

This Unknown

Always With Me

Forever I Will Cry

Too High a Cost

Tears of Nevermore

Two Years

When You Lose a Child

I’ll Finally Be Home

Losing Control

Life Holds No Promises

Mountaintops and Valleys

Alone With Loneliness

Grief Never Lets Go

Buried Feelings

One Day

Death’s Vast Emptiness

Rise

When Forever Begins

Growing Older

I Wasn’t There

Four Years And Counting

There’s No One There

Precious Is The Life He Gave

Time

Ashes

Never Again

Solitude

To all who have been there for me:

Thank you for your support and friendship. Vicki, I thank you for asking the tough questions. Your help in getting me past my wall and seeing that God could use what he had given me to write, could possibly speak to others, was instrumental in moving ahead with publishing. You and your family are very dear to me.

To my Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ for his grace and mercy and for sharing my joys on the mountaintops and carrying me through the valleys.

FATHER, I WISH

I feel a very deep sadness

that I keep pushed way within

of the lost of my Father

I never got to know him

He died when I was five

too young for me to know

never there to pick me up

how I miss him so

He was only with me briefly

and my memories are few

of this man who was my father

and whom I never knew

I’ve wondered how it would have been

had he been there as I grew

would I have been like him

this man that others knew

I know from family of him

in pictures I see his face

I know he died a hero

he left an empty space

I wish I had him as a guide

to help me