BUCKET BRIGADE
Owed to Karen Krause
While some pine
That faith
The size of a mustard seed
Can move mountains
Like magic
Perhaps with a wrinkle of their knows
Wiser women know
How mountains move
Bucket by bucket
By outstretched hands
And sturdy hearts
In awe ways
Moving
Forward
Crossing generations
And races
Not to the swiftest
But the truest
Seeking won peace
In couraging
When injustice seems beyond the pale
And hate appears justified
A brigade appears
As well
And in the shadow
Of a rising calvary
Appears victory and solace
Beyond belief
For what death cannot touch
We have firmly held
The mountaintop
In portions made human
Sizing us up
Long the weigh
Only making us stronger
Such trails and tribulations
Are now more plainly marked
And the eternal answer echoes more clearly
Be more
Karen
Be won for all
Not bewitched
By fancy
As some go before us
Surely, we must follow
And may we all be carried away
In the arms of friends
And when such days we face
The un-Karen powers that be
May we hear the call to arms
And just bucket
I wrote this poem, this ode, as a tribute to my friend and my public health mentor, Karen Krause. Karen died Monday, October 21, 2013, at the age of 73. [You can see her obituary and local news story for a small outline of her life.] I shared this poem with her when she was healthy enough to take it in. I would like to live in a world where everyone has poems written about them and for them. This poem takes us one step closer to that world. The idea for the poem was inspired by a conversation I had with Karen and a couple other friends. I spoke of the commonly misunderstood scripture quote from Matthew 17:20 where Jesus says, “I tell you the truth, if you have faith as small as a mustard seed, you can say to this mountain, ‘Move from here to there’ and it will move. Nothing will be impossible for you.” Of course, most people mistakenly refer to this as if faith were some magical spell, cast successfully if only you believe hard enough. Karen’s life emulated its true meaning: that spending a lifetime, even generations, moving a bucket at a time, can move mountains. [Check out one of my other blog entries for more background on the historical context of this scripture.] I knighted Karen as “Leader of the Bucket Brigade” and this poem soon followed.
You can download a printer-friendly PDF version of this poem here: Bucket-Brigade-Owed-to-Karen-Krause
I was deeply honored when Karen asked me to write a letter for her, her last letter, to be distributed upon her death. Karen and I, from our years working together in public health, drafted many letters and such, spending hours editing and re-drafting. Perhaps as a fitting culmination and closure of our relationship as friends and colleagues, Karen, defying precedent, accepted the letter with virtually no editing. Here is that letter:
Karen Krause asked me to write this letter. Karen died peacefully on Monday October 21, 2013. She wanted to give thanks, especially for her friendships and experiences in her final months. She was in hospice care since July. Karen decided to forgo treatment to maintain her quality of life in her remaining time. She and her doctor were content with this decision. She lived and died as a nurse and a patient, without regrets. She was tremendously thankful to be able to stay home and maintain her independence for most of her hospice experience.
Karen was deeply grateful for her friends and colleagues — and Karen had a way of making friends colleagues and colleagues friends. Karen continued to bring people together until the very end, just as she had brought people together her whole life. She was heartened by the outpouring of visitation, food, medical help, pastoral counseling, assistance of all kinds, and abundant words of encouragement.
Her last months were invaluable for Karen recognizing her own humility. Her often unsung work was just her way: “that’s Karen.” Karen’s dedication and perseverance inspired countless others, yet, she was faithfully, even doggedly, focused on higher purposes than herself. Many friends shared what she meant to them, the positive contribution that she made to who they are. This enabled Karen to better see and more fully appreciate how important her life has been to others. Hopefully, such realizations helped serve as just wages for decades of work serving others.
As in her life, her dying wish was for social justice. Among other things, Karen was the moving force for Toledo Area Jobs with Justice/Interfaith Worker Justice Coalition (JwJ/IWJ). She knew this work needs to go on. Toledo JwJ/IWJ is reorganizing. Karen made clear that her preferred way to be honored is to assure that Toledo JwJ/IWJ is able to continue its vital work. Please contact Bob Lynn, Jr. to see how you can help out jwj@jwjtoledo.org ; PO Box 13048, Toledo, OH, 43613; or 419-787-5245.
Karen succeeded in making the world a better place for all. Her life, and death, is a call to all of us to do the same. Karen accepted the gift of gratitude for her life, and she asked that you accept her gratitude as her final gift to you.
Please see Karen’s obituary in the Toledo Blade Obituary, Foth Dorfmeyer Funeral Home and Toledo Blade Featured Article for more about Karen’s life.
Her legacy lives on, but we will miss her…
Peace,
Dan Rutt
