In Memory of Patricia Ann Baitey-King
I hurt cause you have left me, and I am still here
I promise to keep memories of you vivid and crystal clear
I have often dreaded the time when you would travel alone
Please let me take a minute to thank you for the love you have shown
From the time I was was little, you treated me like your own
I appreciate your loving actions, even more now that I am grown
No matter the situation..you were always there
To give me...your girl... tender love and care
I remember the long talks we had...just you and I
Now you understand the reason its so hard to say good bye
I hope you knew in your heart....that I felt this way
Hope you can forgive for not expressing it sooner than today
I can hear you tell me now, be strong for life must go on
And if ever I should need you to call and you'd come
Life is to short, so enjoy it while you can
For no one knows when they will join my Aunt Pat in the Promise Land
My Aunt Pat was a phenomenal woman...truly one of a kind
Her flesh may be leaving, but she will remain fresh in my mind
Now as I conclude, I say to my my Uncle Jeff and cousins
Val, Vickie, Chris, Jeff, Andre' and last but not least Dee
I want to thank you yall for sharing Auntie Pat with me. I hope I will one day mean as much to my son as nieces as my Aunt Pat meant to me.
This was the poem I wrote and recited at my aunt's funeral on 05*22*99. She left me at 5:15 pm on 05*18*99. She struggled with brain cancer for 9 months before she was called home. On the day of her death, I was supposed to be on my way to school to take exams. I talked to her before I left the house and she told me to go take the test and she would be around when I got done. I got in the car and drove five minutes towards school, but somehow I made a u turn to head towards the hospital. When I got there she had taken her last breath five minutes before I arrived. She told her husband to tell me she loved me and that she was sorry she left before I got there. She had a sick feeling that I was on my way after all. On 05*18*00 at 5:15 pm I was inducted into Sigma Beta Delta. I always thought that was a strange time for an induction ceremony so I asked my professor why he chose such an odd time. He told me that he was proud of me and being that I was the only Afro-American inductee, he wanted to make sure I would have ample time to get to the civic center from work. He did not want me to be late
Thanks Aunt Pat...I know that was your doing!