A Cabana by the Sea

A Cabana by the Sea


In a quaint cabana,
On an island reef,
Lived a man whose lifespan was,
At the most considered “brief”.

For nigh the dawn meets the tide,
That old man death will come;
With scythe in hand, to take a man,
And pick him as a plum.

The reaper grim, scythe in hand,
Will come this very night;
To collect another winsome soul,
From a life of sin and blight.

With the coming of morning light,
Another soul shall be set free;
A lonely man with bated breath,
Meets death in a cabana by the sea.

“A good man” his friends will claim,
“And kind and true and pure”;
But don’t ask his God my friend,
You see, His judgment is good and sure.

His God may speak a different tone,
“A putrid, wretched man”, says He;
And His judgment will be Just, and true,
In that cabana by the sea.

One night more to live,
And what then shall he do?
“Prepare to meet thy Maker, sir”;
He doesn’t have a clue.

He’s been good to all his kin,
And a friend to every friend;
He’s given back what he received,
And was faithful to the end;

He went to church now and then,
But was busy as could be;
And didn’t have time for prayer and alms,
Nor for such “foolishness” you see.

He walks the beach with tearful eye,
And sobs with fearful heart;
To think that tonight he’ll die,
And from this world will depart;

Then another comes his way,
A man walking alone;
His eyes were bright and full of life,
As for his face—it shone.

He walked with a certain lilt in gait,
He came singing a peculiar song;
One of beauty and of grace,
Of a place he didn’t belong.

The two passed on the sand,
The one tearful and afraid;
The other joyful, with a glow,
The sad one, in need of aid.

The stranger continued a little way,
Then turned and quietly spoke;
“I sing of a Land far away from here,
Where One who had died awoke”

“A man who has died can live again?”
Questioned the broken man, His hope was sparked anew;
“Yes indeed” the answer came, “Indeed he can;
A man who has died can live again, and so, my friend, can you”

The stranger turned and walked away,
And nothing more was said;
Despondent man was left alone,
With new thoughts in his head.

He hurried back to his seaside home,
And found that Book so grand;
Blowing off the long term dust,
He took it in his hands.

With memories of long ago,
Of Sunday Schools all past;
He found what he had missed so long,
And found true joy at last.

A body was discovered late the following day;
All nestled and snug in bed;
The Bible opened on the shelf,
The body cold, and dead.

But Life had come the night before,
As he read of Christ upon the tree;
And found grace in the eyes of the Lord,
In that cabana by the sea.


“Jesus said unto her, I am the resurrection, and the life: he that believeth in me, though he were dead, yet shall he live:” (John. 11:25)