Bono’s Billy Graham Poem
Posted by Kevin D. Hendricks on April 30, 2009
We’ve talked about the poem U2 frontman Bono wrote for Ruth Bell Graham before. He visited the Graham house in 2002, read poetry to Ruth and presented her with a book. A photo appeared in Decision magazine capturing the moment. But with that book of poetry Bono also included a poem he wrote about Billy Graham.
That hand-written poem is on display at the Billy Graham Library:
“The journey from father to friend
is all paternal loves end.
it was sung in my teenage ears
in the voice of a preacher
loudly soft on my tears
I would never forget this
melody line
or its lyric voice that gave my life
a rhyme,
a meaning, that wasn’t there before.
a child, born in dung and straw
with The Fathers love and desire to explain
how we might get on with each other again….”for The Rev. Billy Graham (that preacher)
Ruth and all the Graham Family
from Bono (March 11 2002)
with much love and respect….
(Special thanks to John Schroter for taking the photo and jotting down the words.)
In 2002 Bono, the frontman for the rock band U2, visited the Grahams in their Montreat, N.C., home. Decision magazine published a photo of Bono reading poetry to an ailing Ruth Bell Graham. He presented her with that book of poetry, a volume by poet laureate 
