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.”