encourage everyone
Maybe I haven’t expressed myself
And maybe you don’t know
But it’s hard to tell a very good friend
The things you want to show
Friendship is a possession dear
And you are dear to me
There is no other
Whose friendship’s so true
At this time of year,
We recognize our friends
This is my thoughtful recognition of you
May our friendship last to Eternity.
~ written in 1965, age 16, for my best male friend
© 2021 All Rights Reserved
A broken blue clay pot and one wilted wildflower rest between two small tombstones.
Ashes of my hippie neighbor, Sage the artist, dust the graves.
The graves of his two wives, the recent and the ex.
He promised to love and cherish till death, and he did.
I stood a few moments lost in memories of his art, alcoholism, and watching him care for his sick wives.
As the sun peeked out from a gray cloud, I knelt and pushed three poppy seeds into the broken pot.
© 2022 All Rights Reserved
The words you speak in tender moments
The touch of your fingertips on my face
The firm grip when you hold my hand
The tears on your cheeks in sympathy with mine
The respectful way you treat my family
The patience you exhibit when I make a mistake
The way you stand by me when others flee
That’s where love lives
© 2021 All Rights Reserved
Upon my recent relocation, I donated half my furniture, but my son encouraged me to keep the old cedar chest. I opened it at my new apartment and fingered through small items in the top tray. When I discovered my old charm bracelet, I decided to move it to my jewelry box. It needed cleaning and was a dated version of today’s charm bracelets, but the charms were still special to me. I closed the cedar chest and placed trays of my beautiful blooming violets on it in front of the bedroom window.
Since becoming a widow, I have treated myself to a nice dinner each year on my birthday. I decided to have lunch at O’Neill’s in a nearby town to check it out. The potato and leek soup was tasty, so I asked to view the dinner menu while I stayed for coffee.
As I glanced around the dining room, I noticed a man with faded red hair staring at me. When our eyes met, he smiled and walked over to my table. His first words surprised me. “You look very familiar. I’m from Atlanta originally. Maybe you lived there at some point in the past?” A little surprised that I would meet someone from home since I moved to another state, I responded, “Why, yes. Atlanta is my hometown.”
I asked him to join me, and we spent the next fifteen minutes trying to figure out how our paths had crossed back home. Just as I lifted my coffee cup for the last sip, he glanced at the charm bracelet on my wrist. His eyes widened as he exclaimed, “Now I know who you are. I gave you that tiny ring charm from my mother’s bracelet. You were my first girlfriend. Remember kindergarten? 1953?”
“No way! Paddy? Is it really you?”
I did not want this conversation to end. “Are you free to join me tonight for a special dinner here?”
“Sure. What’s the occasion?”
With a demure smile as I glanced into his Irish green eyes, “It’s the sixtieth anniversary of my fifth birthday, Paddy.”
© 2020 princess2ears
When we kissed goodbye, a final kiss it was. Not a gentle touch but a salty caress of tear-stained lips.
I licked my mouth to taste your goodbye as I watched your silhouette fade away into the night.
Walking home alone, the heavens cried with me. I did not even care that I got wet. Soaking in my emotions.
I wish I could have saved your tears. I wish there had been no tears at all.
©️ 2020 princess2ears
And in the second pandemic spring, new growth was seen in southwest Charlotte that stopped traffic.
The grass was golden yellow with pink violets sprouting from purple bladed leaves growing wild.
There was pink corn with cherries on top.
The oak was red this year with blue foliage.
The sun was it’s normal self, but the clouds were white tinged with turquoise feathers.
It was a beautiful sight to see.
Mother Nature’s way of giving us hope.
~ Sheila 2/23/21
princess2ears 