"Love Me Now!"
- Details
- Published on Saturday, 13 October 2012 13:26
- Written by Stanton O. Berg
"LOVE ME NOW"
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"If you are ever going to love me,
Love me now, while I can know.
All the sweet and tender feelings,
Which from true affection flow.
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Love me now, While I am living.
Do not wait until I'm gone.
And then chisel it n marble -,
Sweet love words on ice-cold stone.
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If you have tender thoughts of me,
Please tell me now.
If you wait until I'm sleeping,
Never to awaken,
There will be death between us,
And I' won't hear you then.
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So, then, if you love me any,
if its but a little bit,
Let me know it now while I am living,
So I can own and treasure it."
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(The Above is One of June's Personally Collected and Framed Poems)
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(June and Stan - 2002 - 50th Anniversary - Year of The Poem)
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This poem“Love Me Now”is one of the poems that June collected and framed in a 5"x 7" frame for display on our living room table – it was, and still remains, on the center end table under the large picture windows at 6025 Gardena Lane.
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A POIGNANT MESSAGE to THE FAMILY
I remember well the day when June first came home with a photo copy of this poem, framed it and displayed it for our living room. I wondered if June was trying to send the family a message! This was at a time that June was still in the early stages of Alzheimer’s. (2002). June was in her 6th year of her 12 year journey into this terrible disease. It was later in her 7th and 8th years of the disease that Alzheimer’s started taking control of June’s mind, her body and our lives.
During the early stage years June would forget things we had discussed the day before…or perhaps just an hour ago...in other words, expressions of love by family members would be lost and she would have no recollection of such expressions of love. This beautiful poem appeared to me to be a request by June to tell her if we loved her…it is such a poignant and sad request at a time when she was receiving many such expressions by family but had thought there were none - simply because she had quickly forgotten them…such is the sad cruelty of this terrible disease.
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During the early stages of the disease, it is the loss of short term memory that is the hallmark first symptoms…June's first short term memory problems surfaced in 1997...the long term memory still remained relatively intact until the late stages…June was diagnosed with early stage Alzheimer's in February 1998 at the University of Minnesota and later verified at Mayo Clinic.
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(June and Stan - 2002 - 50th Anniversary - Year of The Poem)
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Authorship of above Poem: This poem was researched by April Lorier who is an author, lecturer and columnist. Lorier attempted but was unable to find the true author. She tells of spending time seeking the author in the 80’s and 90’s via internet. She reported finding some 30 different people claiming to be the author. Lorier could find no copy-write for it. She first found the poem on a plaque in the 1970’s and at that time it was designated “author unknown”…she still considers it to be “author unknown” and suggests that anyone may use it. There are a number of slightly different versions of the poem. (2/19/2012)
My current research located a number of Lyrics with this same name that are entirely different in wording, content and composition..."Love Me Now" by writer Vannelli, Geno..."Love Me Now" by Amaro, Melanie ..."Love Me Now" by Man, Beenie. (2013)
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(June and Stan - 2002- 50th Anniversary Celebration - Year of the Poem)
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50th Wedding Anniversary Celebration: June and Stan's 50th Wedding Celebration was hosted by their daughter Julie Berg at her home...Julie had a large back yard elevated patio deck with a large Maple Tree growing in the middle of it. Julie's home was an excellent location for the celebration...June and Stan's Senior Pastor of their church, the Redeemer Lutheran Church of Fridley, was also a guest...Guests came from all around the Minneapolis - St. Paul Metropolitan Area...Relatives from the Barron and Rice Lake, Wisconsin areas also attended...(Granum's, Etlicher's and Nedland's) June's cousin from Iowa (Ione) was also in attendence...it was a very large crowd...I remember June told Pastor Glesne our Redeemer Church Pastor that we had never had an argument in our entire marriage...He indicated that He found that hard to believe...June stuck with it however...The weather was sun shinny and it was a fun day and a successful party!
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Stan's Note: (August 2018 )This page on June's website has had some 14,500 visitors since it was first created in October 2012.
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Reader's Comments
Nancy Senechal - East Los Angeles, Caifornia - (14 October 2012): "So very touching..."
Christine Pickard - Lincolnshire, United Kingdom - (14 October 2012): "So truly beautiful From the soul...a very pretty Lady. I would have loved to have met June...one remarkably special person...."
Marion Reinartz - Cologne, Germany - (14 October 2012): "Love never ends ... bless you Stan and June..."
Vicki Cadogan - Limerick, Ireland - (14 October 2012): "Just beautiful."
Bertha Dusenberry - Lafayette, Ohio - (14 October 2012): "Such a pretty lady Stan."
Tara P. Lodzinski - Kamloops, British Columbia - (14 October 2012): "Beautiful photo of June!"
James Denton - Pana, Illinois - (5 July 2016): "What a beautiful and heart breaking poem. May I copy and paste ?"...Stan's Response: "Yes"..."Thank you.. Your tributes to her are so amazing God bless you."
Marsha McKneely Ault - Nacogdoches, Texas - (5 July 2016):"...how important it is to show love for those who need to be wrapped in the arms of our love continually. Your love for June touches so many lives and inspires people all over the world as you help us to understand the terrifying effects of this retched disease...June's framed poem reminded me of a poem I wrote many years ago for a very dear friend...."
" Bring Me Flowers"
Written for Ada Naomi Nerren
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"Mama lies in her hospital bed
blasts of immature white cells
crowding out her blood stream.
Pleading with her brother:
“Bring me flowers, Joe,
while I’m living.”
Obediently he brings
a long, stemmed rose
to Viola
the most beautiful red,
its fragrance dancing about
the stark, white room.
Mama’s gone.
Uncle Joe’s gone.
I now sit in my motorized chair
echoing Mama’s words
“Please, bring me flowers
while I’m living.”
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Patti Hanson - Sioux Falls, South Dakota - (5 July 2016): "So awesome to see a couple so in love....The poem, is so moving."
Jane Jackman - High Wycombe, United Kingdom - (6 July 2016): "A lovely happy photo which shows the deep love between you both. Being a lover of Poetry myself I enjoyed reading June's "special" poem. It certainly made me sit back and think...so full of meaning. If you have a family member or friend suffering from this dreadful disease do all you can whilst they are aware. I thought I was doing all I could for my lovely Mum but without her I feel I didn't and have to live with it even though folk try to convince me how good I was! Now my brother is in suffering the same. Just wish he lived closer so that I was able to call by. Sorry friends for rambling on."
Ann Cowling - Southend-On-Sea, United Kingdom - (6 July 2016): "Got tears in my eyes."
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June's Passing
After an almost 12 year journey into the shadows of Alzheimer's, early one morning in late October 2008, an exhausted June felt God's gentle touch on her shoulder and heard the words: "Come Home June!" As June lay like a wounded soldier on a battlefield, it was God's Angels that ushered June into a Heavenly Kingdom to the sound of a chorus of Angels...and into June's new home, a "Mansion on the Hilltop", where there is no pain, nor illness nor tears...June's funeral notice as published in the Minneapolis Star in October 2008 can be seen on this website in the drop down menu under the "In Memoriam" label - just Click on:
"June K. (Rolstad) Berg - In Memoriam"