Bring Him Home

Lewis’s son Jeremy sang “Bring Him Home” at Lewis’s memorial service.  The introduction and lyrics follow:

The afternoon before my father passed, he watched a broadcast of PBS’s Memorial Day concert with my mother.  I was watching the same broadcast from home.  My mom reports that he was particularly touched by the concert, which brought him to tears several times.  The concert included this song, sung by Jean Valjean in the stage version of Les Miserables.

Les Miz is the story of Valjean’s quest for redemption, the imperfections of human justice, and the perfection of divine justice.  It is about a man who learns compassion, and who ultimately teaches his stepchild, his employees, his fellow citizens, and even the story’s protagonist to love by example.

That is the way I will always remember my father.

Bring Him Home is sung by Valjean as he contemplates the possible death of his daughter’s suitor.  When my father first spoke with me about death in my youth, he did so very matter-of-factly.  He told me that he wasn’t scared of death—his gentle way of telling me that anyone could be taken at any moment, and that no future days are guaranteed.

My father rarely minced words, he was honest, he taught by example, and he was prepared for death.

God on high
Hear my prayer
In my need
You have always been there

He is young
He’s afraid
Let him rest
Heaven blessed.
Bring him home
Bring him home
Bring him home.

He’s like the son I might have known
If God had granted me a son.
The summers die
One by one
How soon they fly
On and on
And I am old
And will be gone.

Bring him peace
Bring him joy
He is young
He is only a boy

You can take
You can give
Let him be
Let him live
If I die, let me die
Let him live
Bring him home
Bring him home
Bring him home.