Who wrote God saw you getting tired and a cure was not to be...?

Question

Cameron Sanford · Answer

My mother is 91 years old. I asked her what year my grandmother died, because this is when she originall wrote this poem, in memory for her mother, but it was first PUBLISHED in the New Bedford Standard times in 1987 - hence the 1987 year. She was corresponding with a friend in the late 1930's early 1940's in Schnectoady and they both loved poetry and sent each other poems back and forth. She sent him this one and "Sitting Sadly By The Window" - two poems she wrote for her lost mother. Time passed, someone must have seen the poem in his belongings, and submitted it in 1974 - but that was never an issue. Frances M. Coelho wrote this in 1939, and when my father died in 1986, submitted it to the newspaper. We had to go through hell to prove that she wrote this poem and WHEN it was written. It was proven, she owns the copyright (and had my name aded to it as well for changing one line) as the author. It doesn't matter who disputes this or argues this point. We have the proof, we have the copyright. The last four lines of what was submitted (below) were not written by her - the lines were changed.

8/13/2011

The following poem appeared in the Schenectady Gazette on February 21, 1974, on page 29 (3rd column about two-thirds down the page):

God saw you getting tired,

And a cure was not to be.

So He put His arms around you,

And said, "Come unto Me"

With tearful eyes we watched you,

As you slowly passed away.

And though we loved you dearly,

We could not make you stay.

Many times we've needed you,

So many times we've cried.

If only love could have saved you,

You never would have died.

http://news.Google.com/newspapers?id=_mItAAAAIBAJ&sjid=2ogFAAAAIBAJ&pg=7022,1259114&dq=god-saw-you-getting-tired&hl=en

No author was cited in this memorial submitted by Betty and Karen, the daughter and granddaughter of Estella Sibel who passed away February 21, 1972.

I don't see how Layla, Jenny, or anyone else can claim that anyone wrote an original poem in the 1980s or 1990s (see posts below). Perhaps they added to the anonymous poem and then claimed authorship, but enough evidence in published memorials persists to prove authorship much earlier than the dates claimed below.

Randy

***

Today, I received an email from Layla Loretta Maples in reference to the poem in this discussion, God Saw You Getting Tired. She was very gracious to respond to us, and it is unfortunate that she is no longer able to take anyone's word on true authorship of any work submitted to her.

Fortunately, this poem written in 1986 has all dated submission papers to the Standard Times and documentation to prove ownership, so my mother's work is protected. She CHOOSES not to have her name on it, which is her right. It is quite possible that throughout the years, this poem has been altered, lengthened, or shortened, however, it is still a copyrighted piece. My mother said that anyone can use it, however, do NOT state you are the author. That is stealing.

Layla asked me to post her email, for all to see, in this column. For anyone else that was misled into believing this heartfelt poem was written by any friend or member of their family, be sure to always look for the copyright information PRIOR to claiming it.

Thank you, Layla, for the kind words you sent to my mother and me.

Kathleen Coelho

I am deeply sorry for this misunderstanding, and please do post this email that I am writing to you on the wiki site. I am a young trusting individual and when this poem was brought to me by Jenny at the time she'd lost her mother I didnt think twice about her claim to the originality of the poem, I just did what she asked me to do to make the wording fit on the tag I'd made for her. I can not speak for her, but I can and will for myself, please tell anyone that has been offended by this travesty that I, Layla Loretta Maples, am very sorry for this misunderstanding. I am a writer myself and would be infuriated if someone claimed my original writings.

This will NEVER happen again, at least not with me..

From here on out I refuse to use anyone else's writings for these purposes unless I see that person write the poem, or I see their copywrite of it. I had believed Jenny, and was offended when I'd seen others claiming to have written it and thought I was defending the original author with my response to the question.

If I may, let me do what I had originally set out to do in defending that honor to the TRUE writer of the poem, and if you could, please let whoever needs to know that I am sorry about all of it and am grateful to have come across the poem your mother had written even if it was in a dishonest way. It is a beautifully written heartfelt poem that brings a good feeling in a bad time to people that are dealing with loss, and in no way shape or form would I KNOWINGLY disrespect it's original roots. Please, accept this letter as an official removing of my name from this piece.. as for Jenny, she can speak for herself if she choses to... and she will have some explaining to do when and if I ever see her again.

And I'm sorry I didn't get back to you sooner, I have not been on my computer for a few months and responded to this email as soon as I saw it.

Sincerely,

Layla Loretta Maples

NeverForgottenInc.com

(3) On August 28, 2010 at 10:45 pm User:TheKath[0] said:

This is a copy of the message I left for Mr/Ms. Russett on their message board on 8/28/10:Russett - I don't know who you are, but my Mom asked me to write in to say thank you for remembering that she wrote God Saw You Getting Tired back in 1986 when she lost her husband, our dad. I couldn't believe you saw it in the Standard Times! I sent an email to Never Forgotten to Loretta Maples, but she has not responded. I did let her know who the original author was and that I do have the paperwork to prove it, so I guess we'll see what happens next. In any event, on behalf of my Mom and all of us, thank you for providing the correct information. If a friend of mine hadn't called this to my attention, I never would have known people were stealing my mother's work. I will also post this note in the section where all the conversation took place originally. Sincerely, Kathleen Coelho

(2) On August 28, 2010 at 3:16 am User:TheKath[0] said:

You are absolutely correct. When I saw all these people taking credit for this poem my mother wrote for my father, I found the original paperwork from the Standard Times when she put it in. But, yes, Frances M. Coelho did write this poem, we have the paperwork to prove it. Thanks for remembering, Russett!

(1) On August 25, 2010 at 9:35 am User:Russett[0] said:

It is to my understanding that the poem titled, God saw you getting tired ... was written in 1986 by Frances M. Coelho for her husband. She took the original and mailed it to herself keeping the envelope un-opened. It is postmarked by the U.S. Postal Service in the year 1986 - also known as a "poor man's copyright. That was 21 years ago.( Sorry folks, Can't argue with a copy write. )

This poem had originally been written by a woman named Jenny Frey. She was a neighbor of mine. She has the original, I believe it was originally 28-34 lines long. I cant remember now cause it's been a while. When her mother passed she came to me to have me make a memorial dog tag for her. Since she knew I was a writer she gave me what she had created to have me condense it down to something that would fit on the custom engraved dog tag. That's how it became the short and the sweet poem that it is now..simply needed it to be a lot smaller than it was. I will see if i can't find her to get the original for you, but in the mean time.. I've seen it written a lil bit differently elsewhere... here's the original wording.

God saw as you were getting tired

A cure was not to be

So he wrapped His arms around you

And whispered 'Come with Me.'

With tearful eyes

We watched you suffer

And saw you fade away

Although we loved you dearly

We could not make you stay.

A golden heart stopped beating

Hard working hands laid to rest

God broke our hearts to prove to us

He only takes the best.

Writen By: Layla Loretta Maples LLM~

Taken from the original written by: Jenny Frey

Both of us are Residents of Florida... my email address is bluenotelullybye@live.com and the name of the business that I created the memorial tag for is Never Forgotten Inc. This poem, and that tag was the first dog tag that I ever got to create for memorial purposes which set me into the motion of wanting to do only these types of creations for memorial services. I have more poems like it as I create a new poem for each memorial piece that I do... Thank you to whoever asked... I was never going to claim this one for the magnitude that it has reached is a bit overwhelming. BUT, since you asked... I figure...who better to answer this question than ME.

www.neverforgotteninc.com

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This poem was not written by you or your friend Jenny. This poem was written by my mother in 1997 the night my great grandma passed away. It is all over the internet now with a few words changed here and there but is her poem.

The poem was published in a book of poetry as author unknown in 1998 as I submitted it for publication

+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

Sorry, I did not post the bit above but was adding to the answer - I apologise for any confusion - the bit below is a personal view - and not meant to in anyway slight the person above - it was a comment regardless of who actually wrote it.

"God broke our hearts to prove to us He only takes the best" is an inaccurate representation of a loving God of any faith - since only an evil god would ever take a life just to make a point to those left behind!

It is sickness and disease that takes people not God - it is Cancer not God - it is War not God and so on -

It is sad, in my view, that so many have added this wholly inaccurate and misleading verse to their funerals or funeral notices

This is Layla Here, with my old neighbor sitting next to me, her daughter watched her write the long version of the poem as she wrote it in 2007, i just made is shorter for her.. the religious views, and wording is from Jenny.

IF your mother wrote this, then she must have been comforting Jenny in spirit as she wrote the words she wrote down, i have her original, and all of the papers I used to condense it.. i have legal proof of the copywrite process as far as the creation of the piece goes.. so, if it's in book published in 1998 and written by your mother, then i would feel truly blessed to have be touched by her.. i know how it came to me here, and how i wrote it and can prove it, but like i said, if you have proof of it's existence before then then I'm simply amazed and just know that your mother is alive n well in spirit.. as for the personal views about the wording to the other fellow... I believe in a very loving God, but when Jenny wrote it she was in the stages of grief of losing her mother... just let a poets words be a poets words.. it's just a writing about a feeling at the moment...

I can see how if the original version you say your mom wrote was much longer and Jenny might have misled me about the originality, but this condensed version i did myself, so, that's all i know... she brought me a 'rough' and i made it small enough to fit, it's possible i may have been lied to.. so maybe you can help me clear that up.. I'm a writer, and have no need to claim things I've not written.. so, if you can tell me where to find that from 1998 and tell me where to find it, i will see if it matches what she brought down to me.. if so, then I'll know she got it from somewhere and lied to me.. but if this short version is all you have to claim..then I'd have to disagree, because I broke that down myself.

But please do let me know.. cause if that is the case i will never accept an 'original' from someone again to work on... last thing I'd ever want to do is claim any ownership of someone else's work... I was under the impression she was giving me an original rough, and I was just doin my job to try to make it fit on a small engraved dog tag. My new email address is laylamapes@Yahoo.com, so, definitly, let me know

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