These next weeks are going to be challenging, I imagine, for each of us. Best wishes in doing what you can to be kind to yourself and others. And VOTE!
I am feeling like I am at a crossroads. Perhaps it's because my birthday was Monday; probably it's because seven and a half months of tension that includes worry about the losses from the pandemic for everyone and now the incredible election chaos. One needs to be strong to face these next weeks and I want to be, especially for my grandchildren. This poem comes from those thoughts.
Forget Everything - Almost
These challenging days,
don't tell anybody,
I'm "almost" forgetting every single month behind me,
the way it was:
the startling whispers,
the "everything is gonna be alright",
that word we fear to hear again,
"lockdown", the angry arguments
for truth.
I will remember
the daughter who brought groceries,
small visits (like vitamins),
the son's phone calls,
making believe he was cross-town,
hugs
that
finally
came from granddaughters,
customers
who
rushed
to the bookstore opening –
out of books
eager for book talk,
the silly smile drawn
on the Starbucks cup,
a text from a neighbor,
so many deviled eggs.
I will not forget walks in
winter's snowy whispers
spring bees buzzing
summer's magpie chatter
fall trees' defiant goodbyes.
I won't forget
the name of this poem.
Linda Baie ©
These days are challenging indeed, Linda. Your poem expresses this thought beautifully or should I say soulfully. I also feel the heaviness of these months and everything seems to be upside down and mixed up for me. It is hard to be excited for our new home when our Long Island home is still not sold. We just were told that an offer we were getting fell through when the buyers lost the sale of their house. The pandemic is taking its toll on everyone. We can HOPE for a new life.
ReplyDeleteYes, challenging! I am sorry to hear about your own challenges about your house sale, Carol. Wishing you the best outcome and soon! Thank you!
DeleteThank you, Linda. It is kind of you to wish me good wishes of hope.
DeleteYou're welcome, Carol. I am "hoping" for you!
DeleteI won't forget your poem either, Linda. Perfectly captures the difficulties of the year and those small, treasured moments that, if not making it all bearable, at least offer glimmers of comfort. Happy Birthday!
ReplyDeleteThanks, Sally. Those small treasures keep me going indeed!
DeleteWow. This really hits home for me. Those visits like vitamins. Yes. There is sadness in this poem but hope also. How do you do it?
ReplyDeleteI think I simply get up each day, Linda, and know it's another day I have to make the most of, do what I can to make all our lives better. Thanks, and best wishes to you, too, for some "vitamins" every day!
DeleteYou pick some beautiful things to remember, Linda. I will always be thankful for rural life, during this pandemic, and the many amazing new discoveries we have made in our own backyard. And thankful that family have been not too far away, even though we couldn't always see them. Mostly, I'm thankful that thus far, our state has weathered the storm well. But I won't ever become complacent about that!
ReplyDeleteI have loved seeing all your adventures on your place and beyond, Kat, not surprised that they uplift your spirits every day. And I do watch all the news about other countries, am so happy your state is doing well. Thank you.
DeleteDear Linda, happy belated birthday! I love how you capture the sweet and the difficult in this poem... so much loss... but beauty, too. And that pic of the grandgirls is simply PRECIOUS. Thank you for sharing! xo
ReplyDeleteYou're welcome, Irene. It felt right to share this week, something burbling up I wanted to share. The girls make happy hours in my life always! Thanks!
DeleteThank you for such a touching, poignant poem. I love the optimism and hope despite all the heartache. Those small moments mean so much. One thing we've all surely learned is to never take anything for granted again. Love your photo collage too -- of course seeing Ingrid and Imogene always makes me feel better.
ReplyDeleteI won't give up, Jama, & yes, the small things in our lives mean so much. Thank you!
DeleteHappy Birthday, Linda. Your poem shows what difference the small intimate kindnesses make in our lives now. And how important nature is to our sense of well being. Thanks for the photos of the beauty you have around you!
ReplyDeleteI am lucky to be outside a lot & to be with the grands, Janice. Thank you! I'm glad you're beginning to host on PF!
DeleteThere's an aching in this poem, Linda- I feel it - but also an undercurrent of strength and gratitude. What to hold dear, and onto, like grace, is a choice. Trees' defiant goodbyes is haunting, and oh, how the deviled eggs made me smile. Simple things... beautifully knit together from such strong, strong fibers.
ReplyDeleteThanks, Fran, yes, an aching is right. Oh would that we were not in this time! I am always thinking of those in need.
DeleteOh Linda, so true! There's so much good to focus on, in spite of all the horrible.
ReplyDeleteYes, for sure, Ruth. I know that you do after seeing so many of your posts on FB! Thanks!
DeleteWhat a beautiful poem, Linda. So much chaos has happened this year but there have been small moments of relief and your poem captures this perfectly.
ReplyDeleteThank you, Becky. I am so hopeful for this election, wishing that it would be different, but fighting for good change!
DeleteI'll take your walks with nature through the seasons, and those hugs oh so important and missing so many. Thanks for your heartfelt, timely poem Linda!
ReplyDeleteYou're welcome, Michelle, yes, the walks are my medicine!
DeleteOh, Linda! Happy belated birthday--I'm sorry I missed it. Hardly online most days right now. And this poem. Yes. When I've seen the great photos you share of you and your granddaughters, I've always smiled. This is such a gorgeous litany, a prayer of all the things that really matter. Thank you.
ReplyDeleteYou're welcome, Laura. I'm glad for all these things, will continue to be! I'm glad you're busy; it's a good thing!
DeleteYour poetry is always from the heart, Linda, and I can relate to your deciding where to put your attention (and what to forget). I love the inclusion of deviled eggs - yum! Happy belated birthday - mine is next week. Yay Libras! :)
ReplyDeleteYay Libras for sure! Celebrating the good things helps a lot. Thanks, Bridget!
DeleteOh Linda, your poem says so much. I love the line small visits (like vitamins)......the text from the neighbor and the deviled eggs, the customers and their books and the seasons' descriptions. I think of a good friend who is turning 82 on NY's Eve. For her the future looms and while she has braved so much (she's a poet, too), she worries that the opportunities she loves for the creative, intrepid and active life may drift away during covid days. So many different ways this takes its toll and so many are so lucky NOT to truly suffer, but we all suffer on one level or another. Janet F.
ReplyDeleteIt's all so hard. I'm glad you have your kids and those precious grand girls, plus the bookstore. You are blessed AND a blessing!
ReplyDeleteThanks so much, Janet and Mary Lee for liking what I've written. This is what my life is like and I know that both of you have those connections all along this tough year, as everyone has, loving in their own way, but wanting to forget much of it, too. May we all find good relief soon!
ReplyDeleteThank you for this touching reminder of all the care and hope and love in the small interactions over the past seven months. They are worth remembering.
ReplyDeleteThis time has brought so much loss and heartache to so many, but there has been so much love, and your poem is a beautiful reminder, Linda. Thank you.
ReplyDeleteOh, Linda, this is so beautiful and so relatable. Hugs to you, friend. And yes, I've VOTED! :)
ReplyDeleteCatherine and Kimberly, thanks to you as well. I'm hoping we can continue to focus on the good things we have in our lives.
ReplyDeleteYou really put your finger on the only way to make it through this time, Linda—moment by moment, day by day. I'm with you in my hopes that we will be able to return to some sense of normalcy in the coming months, but how ever long it takes, we will get through it by focusing on the small pleasures.
ReplyDeleteYep, you know how much I agree! Thanks, Michelle!
DeleteStopping by rather late to love your poem, with its insistence on the real small details, even the painful ones, and "so many devilled eggs." You might be interested in this, under the circumstances, or you might like to avoid it!
ReplyDeletehttps://theweeklylist.org/
This is a poem that is so personal to you that it becomes universal to us. I hope when this year is through that only the good will shine in memory. And there is so much good!
ReplyDeleteThanks, Heidi & Margaret. I appreciate your comments & will look at that link, Heidi. Finding the good, those details, fills the day with light for sure.
ReplyDelete