REMEMBER by Christina Rossetti: A Poem in Memory of a Dear Friend

Dr. Stephen D. Hayes



Last Saturday, I lost one of my oldest and dearest friends--Dr. Stephen D. Hayes. Both my husband Mike and I had been close to Steve and his wife Clare for nearly fifty years. Steve was a brilliant man of great accomplishment. A child and adult psychologist, psychoanalyst, and addiction specialist, he held three doctorates and two board certifications. He was the co-founder of the Lynn Community Health Center in Lynn, Massachusetts. He helped build a thriving Behavioral Health and Integrated Care Service department at LCHC. The LCHC now serves more than 33,000 people—including 45% of the children who live in the city. Steve was dedicated to serving the people who came to the health center for four decades. He helped thousands of people during his lifetime.

Steve had a real passion for life. He and Clare took great joy in entertaining their close friends. Steve had the most wonderful sense of humor and a great hearty laugh. Mike and I loved being in his company. We spent many of the most memorable days of our lives with Steve and Clare--celebrating Fourth of July holidays on their boat moored in Marblehead Harbor...ringing in the New Year with them at Mittersill in the White Mountains of New Hampshire...spending Memorial Day weekends with them on Cape Cod when our children were young...having gourmet cookoffs with them and other friends at their home in Salem.

L to R: Mike, Steve, Clare, Me

I will miss my Steve. My long friendship with him enriched my life. His loss has left an empty place in my heart. Still, I have vivid and happy memories of all the wonderful times that we spent together.

I selected the following poem to post today in memory of Steve:


REMEMBER

by Christina Rossetti

Remember me when I am gone away,
Gone far away into the silent land;
When you can no more hold me by the hand,
Nor I half turn to go yet turning stay.
Remember me when no more, day by day,
You tell me of our future that you plann'd:
Only remember me; you understand
It will be late to counsel then or pray.


Yet if you should forget me for a while
And afterwards remember, do not grieve:
For if the darkness and corruption leave
A vestige of the thoughts that once I had,
Better by far you should forget and smile
Than that you should remember and be sad.







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At Wild Rose Reader, I have posted a poem titled HOLES by Lillian Morrison in memory of my friend Steve.

A Wild Rose Reader post in memory of Dr. Stephen D. Hayes.

Toby Speed has the Poetry Friday Roundup at The Writer’s Armchair.