poetry


If you don’t know why I am doing this see Sunday’s blog post and then join me.

Forgotten

There are no answers

Except the ones already here

Rain drapes them like a haphazard cloak

Packed away with the winter woolens and forgotten like Mama’s ring and the China doll from before the war

Somewhere between the peonies and the irises, they bloom unseen

Lost like tomorrow’s yesterday

Dots in my history where stories should have taken root and grown.


Twas three nights before Christmas and out in the garage
The cat was all toasty, the mice frozen in the yard

The stockings, found finally, were flung cross a living room chair
Waiting to be filled with the year’s supply of socks and underwear

The youngest daughter was nestled, though not quite asleep, in her bed
with visions of dollhouses prancing in her head.

While I at my keyboard slaved over this rhyme
My husband the elf hoped to finish the dollhouse in time

From out in the garage I could hear all the clatter
Because finishing the darn thing was all that mattered

I peeped through the windows behind frozen sash
Remembering he’d said it would be done in a flash

The streetlights revealed a crisp crusty snow
And hoar-frosted trees cast a wintery glow

When suddenly before my wondering gaze did appear
A cart load of elves pulled by one tiny reindeer

Okay, that didn’t happen. A girl can dream can’t she?
No nose-wiggling was going to produce that tiny mansion.

So back to my desk and my writing and thoughts
To wonder where the meaning of Christmas was lost

Not on my child. She knows it alright.
It’s all about Santa who comes in the night.

Nor on my husband whose heart is in the right place.
It’s all about putting a smile on her face.

The older two daughters consulted with Dad.
To discover the gifties to make us all glad.

‘Tis I who am grinchy and Scroogey to boot.
Thinking we should’ve saved money not bought extra loot.

We’ve pared back this year, but will we be safe?
In this unfamiliar world, where so many chafe?

‘Tis not too long ’til Christmas, there is still much to do.
But the cards are in the post and the packages too.

Time to lay fears to rest
And hope for the best

Happy Christmas my friends and a Joyous New Year
As John Lennon said best, let’s hope it’s a good one without anymore fear

This was an original 50 Something Moms piece.


 A Valentine for My Husband, Rob

 

Every woman needs a Sasquatch of her own

Life being incomplete without one

Earth signs are best 

but at least born in an Oxen year

Able to shoulder all manner of burden

Physical and Emotional

Soft 

but with firm and unyielding flesh 

and principles

Impish, teasing,

able to giggle and explain (nearly) everything

Confident of being able to do (nearly) anything

Beacon bright blue eyes, 

furry all over 

and with very warm feet

Every woman needs a Sasquatch of her own

Life being incomplete without one

 
Today is a Second. It is our second Valentine’s Day as a couple. To anyone who hasn’t been widowed, this would be hard to understand, but to those of us who have experienced the death of our most loved one, it shouldn’t be very hard at all. During the first year of widowhood, there are Firsts. The first birthdays: theirs, children’s, yours that the person is not there to help celebrate. The first wedding anniversary that doesn’t count towards the total. Holidays whose meanings and traditions will change because of their absence. Rob and I have done all those things as widowed people. But today is a special day for us because today is the first Second of our life together. We have been together for over a year. The birthdays and holidays from this point on will be ones we have celebrated as the two of us and it is such a wonderful feeling. Seconds become thirds and fourths and a decade followed by another one. A damn long time.
 
Happy Valentine’s Day my lover. Here’s to our “second” and the damn long time to come.