I cannot ease the burdens you must bear
    Nor shorten your long days;
I cannot lift your load of care
    Nor heal when one betrays.

Just be assured that I am always there
    Wherever you may go

Supporting you with thought and prayer
    And caring more than you can know!
Elaine Ledbetter

I cannot be all things to you
    Nor you to me,
But let us be to each other
    All that we can be
        In every way we can
For whatever time is given us
    However brief the span.
Elaine Ledbetter

Take my days
And so weave them into yours
That intertwined
They may form
A lovely tapestry.
Elaine Ledbetter

The path not taken ever will remain
    Unknown to you and veiled in mystery;
To all its vast and unexplored domain
    Your choice has cast away the only key.

So squander not your time in vain regret,
    Nor contemplate what you can never know;
Just trust in God, believing even yet
    His Will lay in the path you chose to go.
Elaine Ledbetter

I have fashioned many songs for you
    But words can never capture all you are-
Nor even part of what I long to say.
    It is as though I tried to catch a star
With a net in my own feeble way.
Elaine Ledbetter

It is written:
    "Ask and ye shall receive."
And this I still believe,

But now I find my hardest task
    Is to admit the thing I want the most
Is one for which I cannot ask.

For to ask
    Would rob the gift of meaning -
And, oh, how much I want the meaning!
Elaine Ledbetter

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Out of all the time there is, I pray
    There might be granted unto us
    One special day.

One day to spend in some secluded place
    To freely share without our masks
        And doubts erase.

One day in which to mint some priceless coin
    For memory's treasury that time
        Cannot purloin.
Elaine Ledbetter

There is no wine
Unless the grape is crushed;
There is no gold
Unless the ore be fired;
There is no plant
Unless the seed must die;
There is no light
Unless the candle burn.

Perhaps it is by pain and sacrifice
The soul is purified for paradise.
Elaine Ledbetter

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I sought some words to rhyme with God
    And all I found were clod and sod;
But when I sought a rhyme for devil -
    Right away I thought of revel.
Elaine Ledbetter

I will never try to bind you
With words and promises
That both of us might rue.

Instead, the fetters I will use
Are a far more subtle kind -
Memories that fill your mind
Which you can never lose
Of moments shared at work and play,
Of little things that meant so much,
A word, a glance, a tender touch,
A smile to brighten the dullest day.

These threads so gossamer and sheer
Are the only bonds
That you need ever fear.
Elaine Ledbetter

Each night before I go to sleep
    I tuck some special thought of you
Close around my heart to keep
    You near to me the whole night through.
Elaine Ledbetter

Haunting melodies
    Sing of our romance;
Oh, hold me close, my love,
    Hold me while we dance.

Take me in your arms
    Kiss me deep and long;
Hold me close to you, sweetheart,
    Listen to our song.

Tenderly tell me your love
    Say whom you adore;
Make my dearest dreams come true,
    Make me thine forevermore.

Golden days and nights
    Framed in melody -
Hold me close, my only love
    Keep me near to thee.
Elaine Ledbetter

Is it fact or fantasy
    This bond I feel between us?
Does your spirit reach for mine
    As mine is seeking yours-
Or is this imagination?

It seems the words I hear most clearly
Are always those we never speak-
Fact or fantasy?
I simply cannot tell.

But of one thing I am surely certain:
    A single hour with you
Fills my heart with song
    For days on end!
Elaine Ledbetter

How many times
In how many different places
Have we trembled on the brink of that
    narrow crevasse that keeps us apart!
Reaching, but never quite touching...
Feeling, but never quite knowing...
Elaine Ledbetter

If you should hold my image in your heart
    As daily I hold yours in mine
Let it be imperfect, incomplete-
    One that growth continues to refine;
For you have tapped a talent reservoir
    Long unused in many ways,
And kindled once again desire to climb
    Beyond the peaks of all my yesterdays.
Elaine Ledbetter

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As the pilgrim needs must go to Mecca
So I must come to you.
Your spirit dips into my soul
And brings forth
All that is beautiful in me.
Elaine Ledbetter

Click on Title to go to a special webpage with music!

Today
I perceive you differently
Than yesterday.
Beyond your face
Familiar still
I now can see an inner place
That strength and wisdom fill
Where dwells an incredibly
    beautiful you
That until yesterday
Was hidden from view.
Elaine Ledbetter

Touch me with your hand
That I may feel
The special glow your presence brings.

Touch me with your eyes
That I may read
Your words that find no utterance.

Touch me with your mind
That I may seek
Still broader vistas in my own.

Touch me with your spirit That I may grow
In caring, love and empathy.
 
 Elaine Ledbetter

As majestic chords of music fill the air
    In the hush that follows morning prayer
I feel your presence draw more near
    Than any holy sound I hear.
Elaine Ledbetter

How is it
That some people give
More in one encounter
Than most
Can give in years?

Elaine Ledbetter

For the gifts of your presence and time,
    For the ways you stretch my mind,
For the mountains you dare me to climb-
    I give you thanks.

For the dreams you plant in my heart,
    For the visions of tasks yet undone,
For the glimpses of Truth you impart-
    I give you thanks.

For the doors you have opened unaware,
    For the numerous ways you inspire,
For the warmth of the friendship we share-
    I give you thanks.
 
 Elaine Ledbetter

For these few days, forget the halls where Death
Forever stalks trailing midnight robes;
The anguish of those who lie on beds of pain;
The grief of those who suffer loss. forget
For these few days. walk in solitude
Where you can breathe untainted air and let
Your tensions melt away. let nature heal
Your spirit, bring fresh hope, restore your faith
In dreams. believe again that tomorrow holds
Your most triumphant victories. this prayer
I send with you for these few days.
 

Elaine Ledbetter

God so loved the world
That he gave his only begotten son. . .
How he must have suffered to see
The perfect one Rejected,
Scourged and put upon a cross, to die.
Small wonder, then that the whole earth
Shuddered beneath a darkened sky;
And so it is with man
Love bestows both joy and pain
And those who revel in its ecstasies
Must also bear its agonies.

 Elaine Ledbetter 

He could have destroyed the great
  Sanhedrin's power
 And for one triumphant moment watched
Its members cower.

Or He might have gone to the temple square
 once more
Confronting the·fickle crowds that
 condemned Him to death
Three days before.

But not for Jesus was such vengeful reaping!
Instead, He healed the broken heart of her
Who sought Him, weeping.

Elaine Ledbetter