Last Message

Last Message
by Kathryn Kay

Know this, then, when time comes I must leave you,
with that intangible, a memory,
let there be nothing in such thought to grieve you.
Death proves life’s indestructibility.
We know that physically all things must perish.
Man cannot cling to loved things that are his;
and we but build up heartache when we cherish.
The more we love, the harder parting is,
but if your heart begins to feel tears starting,
remind it if its missing me some night
that ours is just a temporary parting.
I’m only waiting for you out of sight.

(Written when she was told she would die in labor on the back of a hospital consent form. Unpublished.)

About the poet:

LDS poetess Kathryn Kay (Kathryn Worsley Pratt) was a popular radio announcer on the KFI radio show Midnight Frolic out of Los Angeles, California, a forerunner of today’s late night television broadcasts, from 1927 to 1930. She was also Associate Editor of “Parade” magazine before it became a Sunday supplement.

Kathryn began writing poetry at age 10 and has had three major poetry books published. Kathryn died in February 2005, but a new book of her poetry has been published with the title Goldfish Privacy and is available wherever LDS books are sold or on the Sheralynn Pratt website.

Read more about Kathryn Kay at her website.