Poems by a POW

Meet Forrest Packard, my great-grandpa. He was a prisoner of war in Wake Island for 4 years while his wife, Esther Packard was at home raising 11 kids. I've started reading the book They Never Wavered which is about Forrest's life while a POW and about Esther and how she handled things during this time. But for today, I just want to share a couple of poems that Forrest wrote while a prisoner.

God bless you and I breathe a charm
Lest grief's dark night oppress you.
Then how can sorrow bring thee harm
If it's God's way to bless you?

And so not all thy days are fair
And shadows touch thee never;
But here's my wish,
God bless you through the years
That thou be safe my dear forever.


There is no date or title for that poem but the next one was written on April 27,1945 titled That Wonderful Mother. At the bottom of the page he wrote that it was written "Four years from the last day I spent with my mother- and my wife- the wonderful mother of our twelve royal sons and our four royal daughters."

If your mother and mine are alive today,
Is there anything more we can do
Than to live the model they had in their mind
When they cradled as babes, me and you?
Could you see mother where she is today
With her thoughts of you so serene
So you think it worth while,
With heart and smile
To push on, to the ideal of her dream.
But if Mother is gone from world of strife
From this world of clouds and rain,
'Twas for love of you and me, in life
That she bore all her sorrows and pain.
I'm sure she's gone to a better land
Where her heartaches and hard labor is o'er.
And the one thing for me if I'd be a man
Is live here that her joy and mine
Will there be sure.
So I think of that dear fond mother,
That Queen that is your wife and mine,
As for me, I know there's no other
So noble, so true and so kind.