The Lanterns Glow, Growing up in Jacksonville

When we were young and would go for a drive we would pass a cemetery and our
dad would always ask the question. "Why do they build a fence around a graveyard"?
Before we could answer, he would answer his own question. "Because people are
dying to get in". One night when driving by a local cemetery I saw a light among the
tombstones. I knew it was an eternal light that someone had erected. I remarked to
my wife that it probably was grave robbers. She said no, it's an older woman who had
lost her husband several years ago and she goes to his grave site and sits and
talks to him. That really touched me, so when I got home I wrote the following.

The Lantern's Glow
By. L. Donald Oliver

Comes a light through the forest,
Preying nocturnal creatures there;
The eerie shadows are dancing,
But she does not seem to care;

In the city of the vaulted,
Where specter and goblin roam;
A place that one someday,
She will call her home;

The glow from her lantern,
Upon her journey each night;
Through the maze of the departed,
Extinguishes her darkened fright;

Many dreams have come,
Many dreams have gone;
And through all the years,
He was the only one;

She treasures all the moments,
Together they held past;
Alas life is so fleeting,
Pleasured moments never last;

Silent words are spoken,
Unto her cherished one;
Soon she'll be with him,
When her task is done;

The snow gathers around her,
But deep in her heart she knows;
Nothing seems to fray her,
As the cold wind blows;

The winds begin to dwindle,
The snow turns to frozen rain;
The only truth that sustains her,
That she will be with him again;