Reaching my age in life has one definite
advantage – the seasons of the past seem richer to me with every passing
year. Relationships intertwine. Stories of how and when you knew someone
sometimes span several decades. And
friends can even become family and then back to friends.
Such are my memories of Steve and
Dan. Steve is no longer with us, and Dan
is the president of a college and an accomplished author. Still, I remember them and their friendship
from all those years ago. Their
friendship started before Dan and his wife Kathy became my mentors, before the
Intervarsity Christian Fellowship meetings Dan led, before the long talks and
the relationship advice, before Dan married my husband and me.
Back then Steve was a graduate student
in Creative Writing at the University of Dallas where I became an
undergrad. I would see him go in and out
of Dan and Kathy’s apartment at the end of my hallway (they were the dorm parents). Steve had an unmistakable profile and a shock
of red hair. Those were the years before
Steve became my brother-in-law; and long before he became a fireman, then a
husband and father, then a pastor.
One simple poem brought all that back to
me yesterday. Steve was a poet (among
his many other accomplishments) and the kind of poet whose words and phrases
jabbed into my psyche like thorns amidst a meadow of wildflowers. They were both good and sharp, both beautiful
and piercing. Unforgettable.
My former mentor Dan has published a
book, and the title of his first chapter is a tribute to his friend, and my
former brother-in-law, Steve. The poem
is “Manger Wetter.” After reading it I
went in search of the one picture I have of Steve and Dan together – in Boston
in 1981. I will never forget you, Steve,
and neither will all those whose lives you have touched. And Dan – Kudos.
Manger
Wetter*
by Steve Mahan
Wrinkled, Crinkled
Red-skinned Squirmer
Famished Squealer,
Manger Wetter.
Gabriel salutes you!
Michael bows!
We here in Bethlehem
Bed you with cows.
We here in Bethlehem
Bed you with cows.
*Russ, Dan, Flesh-and-Blood Jesus, Second Edition:
Learning to Be Fully Human from the Son of Man, Cascade Books, Eugene,
Oregon, 2013. (from
a chapter entitled Manger Wetter: Coming to Terms with Our Neediness)
