John W. Scott

John W. Scott Poems

The Best Poem Of John W. Scott

The Gift Of Life

There was a wonderful woman
Who played a lovely tune
Upon the gentle piano,
Her fingers sounding music through the quiet room

The lovely strains of Pacelbel,
Debussy, Bach and Strauss,
A princess, women and wife,
With a heart of love,
And kindness;

But if you heard the story
Of how she almost was not to be,
Shivers might run up and down your spine
For all eternity

There was a certain woman
Who felt she couldn’t have a child
She didn’t have the money
She didn’t have the time,

She asked the family doctor
If this baby might be undone
The doctor paused,
Looked long and hard

And finally said with a reflective tone
No, not this little one,
I think that it might be better
If you have this child, I think it is for the best,

The woman walked home much perplexed,
Her heart tried to understand
But somewhere in the depths of her heart
The darkness of her sadness was turning into light

The baby was a girl
She grew up lovely
I’m so happy that the girl was born
Because that girl is me

If on that fateful cloudy day
So many years ago
The doctor had used his doctor’s knife
And taken me from this world
I’d not have learned to play the piano
As I surely did
And raise my family to love
And for them life to give

To watch my children growing up
And give them loving care,
I would have been a speak of eternal blackness
Then never tasted air;

On the other side of this wide world
A woman by the name of Mrs. Singh
Visited a similar doctor many years ago
With words much similar,

“I have a child already
I don’t think I need a child again
So if you have the papers then
I’ll sign them with this pen, ”

Again the doctor paused a bit
And looked so thoughtfully

Should he give the paperwork to her
Or should he somehow disagree

Very kindly he spoke these words to her
That are clear as then today,
“Maybe it might be better for you,
To let the baby live.”

You might never come to know just who
This child was meant to be,
And then you’d spend your life just wondering
Who he or she might have been;

She walked slowly home that cloudy day
With much to think about
She had her baby that same year
Despite her nagging doubts

The baby grew from small to big
From a little boy to man
He went on to college, studied math,
And became an engineer in,
A city in Californian land,

What would have happened if that doctor
Hadn’t been so thoughtfully kind,
That Californian engineer
Might never have seen the bright sunshine

Another woman of some worth
A poet and a wife
Clung to life inside the womb
Despite attempts to end her life

She grew up to be a teacher
A helper and a friend
A helper of the children
Because her mother gave her birth

These stories,
All truthfully told
From the twentieth century
From several continents of this earth
Should make us think of eternity
Of what might and might not be

Life is a miracle
Of an eternal plan
I’m so happy to be alive today
To write this poem down.
Because I might not have been.

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