a 99th birthday!

My Special Uncle Bus

purpose--focus--

to give oneself completely to the moment

to the other, to one’s self--

that is Uncle Bus:

implacable,

a natural force

that sees the world clear

and shapes it sure

to a vision of what it can be,

and his solutions feel so right

he is sure of the truth,

like he is sure of the unconditional love 

he gives so freely,

so genial, a twinkle to his eye,

a loving to connect with others

and to build himself part on

who he knows,  and touches,

the individuality, memory, and beauty of wood

revealed on his lathes as treasures

from their own essence and his vision:

“to everything turn, turn. . .”

and a time for their “purpose under heaven,”

he the instrument for their revelation,

him as agent for memory,

his beloved Margaret, she who completed him,

and they found each other in a bond

that even the Second World War 

could not deny for long,

from Tokyo Bay in the fall of 1945

Glenn found the way home

and Margaret and he wed soon after his return,

their love so like a whole

that can not be apart

until flesh itself can hold no longer,

and from their union three wonderful children

who with the strength of their gifts

and the power of their love

make a difference in all they touch,

ripples of the wholeness

Glenn and Margaret lived with every breath,

Glenn an engineer who sees the world

as logical, rational,

with rules to learn and follow,

the sureness of measurement and structure,

the named, the encountered, the understood,

working for T.V.A. and keeping 

our dams and power right,

organizing the garden to produce bounty,

making rolling pins, cabinets, tables, 

Christmas ornaments,

whatever needs doing 

for whoever he knows and loves,

find a need and he has a solution:

how to cut finger rolls, pour apples, open jars, sharpen scalpels,

how things work a passion,

his faith strong and sure

for here is the explanation for the world

and here are the rules by which to live

so that the spirit underlying us all can be revealed and expressed,

the apple pie, the story, 

the family, the church, 

 “the least of these my brethren,”

central to his core,

a life of love and giving

and revealing every gift that God has given him

and the world is that much better 

for how well he lives.

Happy 99th birthday, Uncle Bus!

with love, from nephew Henry Walker

October, 2013