Ashley Thomas Poem

My lovely teenage niece wrote this beautiful poem. It was obvious I was the inspiration for it. For most of her short life, she has assayed, unsuccessfully, to save my eternal soul. My sister has encouraged this effort and I am thankful for their interest. They frantically pray for me and good thoughts can never hurt, regardless of one's beliefs. I wish I could temper their Christian zeal with a bit of open-mindedness, but that is not going to happen. In their thinking, an axe murderer and I have the same status. Regardless, this is a wonderful, well-written, poem and I wish to honor it here. It is nice to have someone trying to keep me out of hell. At least I will be there with Gandhi and the Dalai Lama. I love you, Ashley. Keep writing.

MISTAKES

If you’re lost in the valley of darkness
and you don’t know what to do
Just look up to the Lord
And He will guide you through
If you don’t know which way is up
Just bow your head and pray
And I promise you
The Lord will show you the way
Towards the end of your journey
There is two roads you will find
You will have to choose one
And leave the other behind
There is one that’s wide and broad
That many people take
Until the end when they realize
That there must be some mistake
Because this road leads to destruction
Everywhere you turn
And the only thing you can see
Is the fiery pit that burns
The other road is narrow
That not many people take
But at the end they realize
That they made NO mistake
Because at the end of their long journey
They’ve finally reached heaven’s gate
And they no longer have to worry
About making anymore mistakes
Which one did you choose?

ASHLEY THOMAS
(JULY 2008)