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For You

For you I’ll plant this tree 
Upon the ground that you’ve walked
There to grow and shade and feed
The friends that you’ve made.
May this tree bear sweet fruit 
Found only in this place 
Where others will come to learn of you
And benefit from your grace. 
For you I’ll tend this field 
Filled with bounteous food
For which you labored many years 
Through endless droughts 
And lonely tears. 
May this food feed the hungry 
Enriching many lives
To give their best,
And to the many hopeless, rest.  
For you I’ll repair this barn 
Mending every nail, painting planks, 
Cleaning tanks, and stacking each bail. 
Here you toiled in the heat 
With aching blisters 
On your hands and feet.
May this barn shelter the homeless,
The lonely and oppressed 
Where broken lives are mended
With loving kindness. 
For you I’ll guard this house 
Protecting every treasure
From the thieves of night 
And the sun’s light.
The lessons that you taught me 
Shine brighter than gold; 
They neither rust nor fade 
Nor tarnish when old.
May this treasure be spent 
To cultivate minds
To burn brighter than the luster
That money finds.
For you I’ll tend this grave 
Cleaning off your stone,
Trimming the grass 
And plucking the weeds 
That have grown.
How quiet it is here among so many trees
Like the leaves that have fallen
You’re honored among these.
May this grave beneath the soil 
Remind us of our Lord 
That death has been conquered,
And life to all has been restored.
For you I’ll shed these tears 
And mourn you for my loss,
Yet, through the haze of disbelief 
I see an empty cross.
May these tears be fruitful 
And water with my love
The tree that I just planted 
For my father, now above.

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