Columnist Susan Snyder: Navin’s poem is about face

Friday, April 12, 2002 | 9:48 a.m.

Susan Snyder's column appears Fridays Sundays and Tuesdays. Reach her at snyder@lasvegassun.com or (702) 259-4082.

Cathy Navin hopes to save the world with a poem.

And her story seemed fitting for National Poetry Month.

I first met the 50-year-old Las Vegas poet at McCarran International Airport on the afternoon of Sept. 11.

I interviewed people who were stranded. Navin handed them stuffed animals and an original poem.

They liked her better.

The poem, "I Saw His Face," talks about a near-death experience she had when she was rushed to an emergency room in Germany in 1981. Navin says her epilepsy causes seizures so severe, she has "been in a lot of emergency rooms." She has a portable oxygen tank in her home for the bad days.

She wrote about the experience in July 1999, during one of the hard days. She was on oxygen but says she felt compelled to write:

It was just one moment, when I saw His face A moment of grace, and lasting embrace A gift I cherish.

When I'm in trouble, and tough times come I see His face, and all is calm. My journey to the other side was all too brief I longed to stay with my Maker, you see.

When we can't make sense of things, And life's climb becomes too hard, I stop and call on the moment of grace, A fracture of a minute, when I saw His face.

Then, like warm water covering me in baptism, The symbol of dying with Him, Being resurrected with Him, And walking with Him give a peace of mind To surpass all understanding of any mind.

His face, so illuminated my mind and heart. I know my Father is near, we're never apart!

Navin shared the poem with a neighbor, who encouraged her to spread it around.

"I go nowhere without leaving two poems behind," she said. "If my husband takes me to Kentucky Fried Chicken, I'll leave them on a table."

She has taken the verse to stores, hospitals, churches -- anywhere someone might pick up a copy.

She sent it to prime ministers, presidents and clergymen worldwide. She handed a copy to Vice President Al Gore's Secret Service agents at the September 2000 Teamsters convention at Bally's.

Her mailing list includes England's prime minister, the Bahamas' governor-general, France's U.S. ambassador, the deputy first minister of Ireland and the secretary-general of the United Nations. She has received replies from all.

In a Feb. 6 letter, Oklahoma City Mayor Kirk Humphreys said he forwarded the poem to the Oklahoma City Memorial archives. The poem also is featured in the International Library of Poetry's 2001 volume, "The Shining Light."

Navin has launched a website called Angel Cafe (angelcafe.org) where she wants people to share stories of trouble and how they overcame them. She says her vision doesn't end with the poem, but starts there.

"It's a place where people can leave a record. When you die, there should be something left from your life to help somebody else," she said. "We all have fracture. We all have pain."

Navin says she hopes her poem and website will encourage others to create Angel Cafes in cities worldwide. The lesson of Sept. 11, she says, should be one of tolerance.

"We're so isolated. We have moved away from each other," Navin said. "That's what has been lost. It's so sad."