Master Plan

I formed a master plan for life
In the green year's dawning glow,
Not comprehending naively
The truth I could not know.

I only planned for happy hours,
I sketched in sunny days,
On my horizon not a cloud
Presaged the storm God's ways.

I left no place, no room at all,
For grief could not foresee,
That pain and loss were down the way,
Just waiting there for me.

I could not know my firstborn son
Would have a stay so brief,
And leave behind an emptiness
Akin to a fallen leaf.

I hadn't left space for loss,
I only planned for gain,
But I expected rainbows,
Though unprepared for rain.

My plan was aimed for large success,
No page contained defeat.
No slow discouraged footsteps
Trudged down my private street.

Then when life didn't follow through,
On the blueprint I had made,
I couldn't understand at all,
And found myself dismayed.

But life wrote other plans for me
Which, wisely, it withheld,
Until I learned I needed more
Than what I'd blithely spelled.

And now in life's gray twilight,
By pain and sorrow blessed,
I know how wisely life was planned,
I know its plan was best.

[ Gladys Lawler (Age 93) -- from Lady Millie, via Aiken Drum ]