Yesterday I was sorry to hear that Obama’s maternal grandmother MadeylinDunham passed away yesterday. It sounds like she was an amazing woman. I like it when he said that he owes everything to her, and is only the man he is today because of her. I feel exactly the same way about my parents. Every day I thank the Lord that I had the parents and upbringing that I was blessed with.
My father passed away in 2000. It has recently occurred to me that I should set my favorite children’s poem to music; “The Children’s Hour” by Henry Wadsworth Longfellow. My father introduced me to this poem when I was a young child. During the six years we lived in Ann Arbor, he was quite busy. Somehow he managed to teach full time at the U of M, write a book, and take classes at the law school. I still don’t know how he found time for his family, but he did. Sometimes he’d read me poetry at bedtime. He not only read to me, but taught me about the nuts and bolts of poetry while explaining things that I did not understand.
I still remember when he read “The Children’s Hour” to me, so this poem always brings back fond memories. The feelings expressed by Longfellow are the feelings of a good father, including mine. In fact, they are the feelings of all good parents and grandparents everywhere.
One of my favorite songs is a setting of the first three stanzas by Charles Ives.
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March, 2008
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