Editor, Gazette-Journal:

I originally wrote this verse a few years ago as a “grace” to say before a meal. Over the years since then, I’ve written variants of this verse. I’ve put them in a custom card I send to friends and various folk facing a rough time in their personal lives. I want them to know that you never make this journey through life alone.

In early summer of 2015, I had a snail-mail letter from a cousin in Texas. She asked if I’d written a verse for the upcoming July 4 holiday. If I had, she wanted to read it. I hadn’t, but the words for one quickly came to me. And I typed it in my computer to save.

I printed it out to send to her. Plus I also included a verse I’d written in a custom card I sent to the ARF organization. The Gazette-Journal had done a story about an abandoned cat named Jonah that this organization had treated. The organization had set up a fund in memory of Jonah, whose funds would be used to provide needed care f...