A couple of days ago I received a get well card with a long note from a man whose late mother had been close friends with my mother for decades. He is serving a life sentence in a state prison in Angleton, Texas.
Honestly, I hadn't thought much about him since he was incarcerated quite a while ago, but reading his scribbled hand brought forth a flood of memories. I was touched to the brink of tears by the sweetness of his written words . . .this person I had known during my childhood had always harboured a sweet spirit. I recalled how shocked I had been, how shocked we all had been, when we learned that in a drug-filled rage, in one brief second, he made a heartbreaking move that darkened his life to black and tragically changed a host of innocent lives, forever.
I thought about his mother endlessly over the past weekend ~ who died while he was behind bars ~ and this song filled my head as I relived what I knew of their relationship and examined the relationships that I have with my sons.
I used to sing this to live audiences back before I had my boys ~ when the lyrics meant very little to me. . . when I felt obligated to perform it because it was originally published by my great granddaddy, VO Stamps.
Today these simple lyrics hold intense meaning. I pull out my old Takamine acoustic in this hotel room and I sing The Sweetest Gift for Scott.
I sing in Pam's memory.
I sing in Barbara's memory.
And I sing for my own mother while clinging to the diminishing hope that one day she will embrace these poetic lines for her own children who, for 44 and 47 years, have silently begged to be lovingly accepted and lifted up, not cruelly judged and torn down.
And when the night grows very, very still, I sing The Sweetest Gift for my three sons pledging forever my unconditional love I have for each of them.
One day a mother
Went to a prison
To see an 'erring
But precious son
She told the warden
How much she loved him
It did not matter
What he had done
She did not bring to him
(Bring to him)
A parole or pardon
(Pardon free)
She brought no silver
(Brought no gold)
No pomp nor style
(Him to see)
It was a halo
(Halo bright)
Sent down from heaven
(Heaven's light)
The sweetest gift
(A mother's smile)
She left a smile
You can remember
She's gone to heaven
From heartache's free
Those walls around you
Will never change her
You were her baby
An err will be
It was a halo bright
Sent down from heaven's light
The sweetest gift
A mother's smile
With much certainty I know that Scott is yet another earth angel sent to me during this journey as a reminder that there is nothing much more sacred than the relationship between a mother and her boy. That love remains steadfast, no matter what, in life and in death, just like the love shown between Mary and her sweet Son.
The sweetest gift will shine in abundance for my Ben, Zach and Dillon upon my homecoming tomorrow night ~ and always. God bless everybody.
And tonight, an extra blessing for Scott, Pam and their boys.
