Poems and Short Stories

Herbert A. Dieter (1904-1990)

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By: Herbert A. Dieter      

"FAREWELL"

(Dedicated to one Gladys (Bailey) O'Reilly, of Rochester, Minn.)

Where sky meets earth
And sunshine dwelled
Around the one we loved
And forever held,
Lies an aural scene,
Like a shadow dark
Our hearts are heavy - the pain is deep
For one we loved is now asleep.

Forbid that it should be said,
"Let the past bury it's dead."
But that we should raise our eyes
Upward beyond the skies - for
We have said farewell and now
We cherish our fondest hours,
Often painful, yet at part of life.
Our wounds will heal as we emerge,
From the darkness, free of strife.

Yet we stand empty-handed and sorrow
Leaves us with a thousand tears,
Bereft, but rich in joyous years,
Death has stolen away the riches,
But not the memory, for that alone,
Can fill the void and somehow atone.
Come quickly, thou love sublime,
Heal us throughout endless time,
And descend unto us with love --
"How great Thou Art!"

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H.A. Dieter            

What do they say you are? What manner of substance has kept you ageless; going forever forward, never backward. Man has long tried to find some measure, but cannot, because you are measureless. You became eternity on the day an Almighty Power stretched forth his hands and declared you to be ageless; We pass through the corridors of our existence, believing only tomorrow to be Eternity; today we can never bridge these gaps by staying as we are or trying to go back for a second chance.

Shall I condemn or praise Thee? You are said to be relentless, and yet you are called the great Healer--who can stop the fleeting moments! If I say you pass me by, should I not say I am swept along with the tide? How discernable is that Vapor and of what substance may I speak? Blessings and ravages are by a part of Thy decrees. Life and destruction go hand in hand and yet I am swept along. My death can be but a minute fraction of that endless procession of things and places.

You are History! Mankind brought forth the many writings and yet all the books, past and present, are but a shadow of events. Your are inescapable! Much has escaped the sight of Man. They are but instruments of a greater Author. On the great scrolls, every unfolding, appear the many pages, still clean and clear. Man will clutter the unfinished surface with records, many shameful, many surviving to appear in the final pages of that great Book of Life which shall be opened on that Day of Days. We all have appointments; two we will keep. Physical death and judgement have no postponements. It is appointed unto Man once to die and thereafter the judgement. Say the words of God!

Therefore, can Time be on our side? We like to think so, but faith and hope are excellent ingredients and can be tied into the ever-present scheme Father Time has prepared for us. We gather strength from you, O Time. Please be kind to the poor and needy, the sick and aging; restraining fierceness and calamity. We are your subjects, waiting as we struggle against the tide, for some measure of goodness at thy hands. Hands of Time! What a string bit out of that great span. We watch them, unable to turn them back. It lies not in our power to turn them ahead, lest we foresee some unkind place in time. May we learn not to borrow more time than we already have! Teach us to use it well, so that we may give a good account of our lives, not only to those around us, but for those to come in the days of their retrospect. Time, however merciful, is also unrelenting. Let us know and look to the many values, retaining the only part of that great substance which is our allotment; gathering courage to face our appointments and still be able to say "Time has been good to us!"

Thanks to you, Father Time and Almighty God!

H.A. Dieter            

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By: Herbert A. Dieter      

          One day at a time
          If I can call it mine.
          Tomorrow may never come;
          Today is enough for me.

          Sufficient unto the day
          Is the evil thereof
          And I live in hope
          Even if we're short of love.

          Tomorrow will also be full
          With it's many temptations;
          but I'll continue to strive
          And be glad that I'm alive.

          I cannot stop the thoughts
          And I don't even try
          Let them come as they will
          I'll only ask the reason why.

          Did I do all the things
          That happened once to me?
          But they were there--good or bad
          And shed their light on me.

By: Herbert A. Dieter      

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YOU TELL ON YOURSELF

You tell on yourself by the friends you seek
By the very manner in which you speak
By the way you employ your leisure time
By use you make of dollar and dime
You tell what you are by the things you wear
By the spirit in which your burdens you bear
By the kinds of things at which you laugh
By the records you play on the phonograph
You tell what you are by the way you walk
by the things of which you delight to talk
by the manner in which you bear defeat
By so simple a thing as how you eat
By the books you choose from the wall-filled shelves
In those ways and more you tell on yourself.

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