the words were coming to me faster than I could write them. I remember writing frantically, like a person trying to finish their exam on time, although I did not feel pressure to finish but to continue. When I finished, I remember thinking to myself in utter shock, “did I just write a poem??”

As with all things in life, my poetry changes with the seasons. When I wrote the poem below, titled, “A Father’s Love,”  I was in a place of grief and loneliness. Only a month or so before I had lost my father to cancer. The grief I had felt was intensified by the fact that Winnipeg (and all of Canada) was in a period of quarantine where we were not permitted to see other people. Moreover, I had dislocated my shoulder, making it difficult for me to do many of the activities I would normally do to help me process and heal. As I illustrate in this poem, one of the few things that kept me going was knowing that God the Father saw me and loved me, the way my dad always had. The line “I get up because heaven loves me” reflects on the two fathers I have in heaven, the ones who will always have my back and give me hope to keep trekking on stormy waters. 

A Father’s Love

By Caitlyn Wiebe

I am here walking on the waters

Following the trail of God's light

Unsure of where He will lead me

Every now and again,

The waves and storms

Tempt me to fear

To doubt that He can take me where I need to be

But his light gives me hope

His warmth consoles me

His kindness emboldens me

To keep treading

And even at times to dance on the storm

Yes, every now and again I lose faith

I fall into the abyss

The lies of unworthiness

Of I cants

And I’m not strong enoughs

But His light greets me in the deepest waters  

And when I come to the surface

His warmth is like a father's hug

I get up not because of grit

But because heaven loves me

Caitlyn with her father