Shine! Shine!

With apologies to Dylan Thomas, I wrote this to my mother one week before she passed.

Shine! Shine!

Embrace the ravages of time!

Fear not the coming of the light,

and do not feel the need to fight.

Let your body fill with peace,

and need, and fear, and pain release.

Shine! Shine!

Embrace the ravages of time!

Feel joyful evidence of your genes,

and only review life’s positive scenes.

Through life’s travails you stand tall,

and your present grace is lesson for all.

Shine! Shine!

Embrace the ravages of time!

Let no anger your demeanor bend 

and show good will until the end.

We place memories upon a shelf,

and see your loving, humble, self.

Shine! Shine!

Embrace the ravages of time!

Keep your heart filled with love,

and your eyes on evidence above.

Keep inner joy upon your face,

and let no regret show a trace.

Embrace the ravages of time!

Shine! Shine!

Reviews

[Beccy]

Came back to this. I really enjoy scrolling through the 'back' pages, as it were and re-reading such fine poetry.

Beccy.

[Beccy]

No apologies needed. Life's stages should be lived and we should enjoy to the very end. The ravages of time, are after all, only skin deep.

Beccy.

[xxlheart]

and this so does shine...there is sadness to this piece but yet it gives birth to strength. an excellent write!

[Rick Puetter]

Dear Papaed,

I understand. My Mother was oh so strong in the end. She was the one that signed and demanded the "do not resuscitate" order. I was stunned, actually. What power and what bravery. She was ready to go. She had been brought back 6-8 times. She was in full awareness of everything and decided that this was her time. She was ready. And so we all sat wake, waiting. She knew I was not going to arrive in time. I was scheduled to come in a week and she expected to last a day or two. She knew. I watched this brave woman. She had everything prepared for her end. Funeral, last wishes, everything. She knew that the family would go overboard against her wishes for no service and the simplest of funerals. She knew. She didn't fight. And it was made into a Royal procession. I knew she wouldn't approve and the last rites for my father were thrown into the mix. Speeches from family and friends. My brother and I we included and had to do "the right thing". This was not what Mom wanted. But this is what the family expected and demanded. So we went along, knowing that this was not what she wanted. It's about those left behind, after all. So we performed.

Have a look at my revised poem for my Mom, Trudee. She was a Dear Woman, loved so much by her entire family and everyone that she met. A Golden Heart and a treasure. The piece can be found at http://www.writerscafe.org/writing/rpuetter/634259/.

Best regards,

Rick