THE CORNER 4 WOMEN

Friday, 26 April 2024

WOVEN by Becky Hemsley

"WOVEN"
by Becky Hemsley

You're sewn into my habits,

Like the way I make my tea,

You’re stitched within my waking hours,

Threaded through my dreams

The fibres of you run through

Words and phrases that I say

And all my memories of you

Embroider every day

The jokes you told embellish days

That otherwise are bare

And all your little quirks make up

My life of patchwork squares

It’s you that knitted colour,

That tied knots and bonds so strong

That your beauty and your essence

Still remain now you are gone

See, we are like a tapestry

All stitched and woven tight

And I know you’re always with me

In the fabric of my life

So when I start to feel things

Tangled up inside my heart

I stop and realise love

Is an enduring work of art

*****

Becky Hemsley 2023

Beautiful artwork by Elizabeth Becker

'Woven' is from When I Am Gone https://a.co/d/eLpTudJ

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A NEW CHAPTER by Becky Hemsley

"A NEW CHAPTER"
by Becky Hemsley

She asked him how he’d done it

How he’d built marshmallow towns

How he’d met a little poor boy

Who was destined for the crown

She asked him how he knew about

The language fairies speak

And how he’d caught a shooting star

That now was his to keep

She asked him how he’d swum

Right to the bottom of the sea

And how he’d seen a mountain cry

And heard the sunshine speak

She found it all a mystery

He breathed the air she breathed

But he breathed out tales of distant lands

And things she’d never seen

And she saw a world of wonder

When she looked up close at him

And when he spoke his words flowed

Like a poem on the wind

He told her that it hadn’t been

Some wings that helped him fly

And it hadn’t been a net he’d used

To catch things from the sky

It wasn’t maps that led him

To a chest of buried gold

And it hadn’t been a ship

That sailed him halfway round the world

It wasn’t bricks he’d used

To build a castle in the sky

For he told her he had lived

All of these things inside his mind

And he told her she could do it too

For reading’s all it took

And she’d open up her world

If she just opened up a book

*****

Becky Hemsley 2021

Fabulous artwork by Lisa Aisato

'A New Chapter' is from my first collection:

https://a.co/d/4cOFvD5

https://tc4women.nicheebookcollections.com/NEWSLETTER-EBOOK-LIBRARY-SIGNUP.html We now have over 1700 e-books on our library shelves for your reading pleasure, so do come along and check us out.

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TWO WOMEN ON A TRAIN

"TWO WOMEN ON A TRAIN" (author Unknown)

Two middle-aged women sat next to each other on a train. One was in a very good mood, but the other was sad and depressed. The cheerful woman who was having fun reading a book, started laughing as she read something amusing.

Meanwhile, the sad woman became filled with envy seeing how cheerful the other woman was. She said to her.

"You seem to be having such a great time... How I wish I could be happy as you are. But sadly, life isn't fair to everyone"

The cheerful woman closed her book and spoke very gently.

"I'm terribly sorry for what you're going through right now. If you need to talk about it, I'm here for you"

At that moment, the sad woman heaved a sigh, then opened up to her.

"I have a child with a disability. It's so difficult to deal with the feelings of shame, guilt, hopelessness and depression. I wish I could change everything. It just hurts a lot"

When the cheerful woman saw that the sad woman had started crying, she consoled her.

"This must be so hard for you. But it always helps to look on the bright side of life. It's a choice you'll never regret"

Then the sad woman said.

"Unless you are raising a child with a disability, you don't understand the pain I go through everyday. The pain of loosing all hopes and dreams you have for your child. You don't understand because you're such a lucky woman"

The cheerful woman became quiet afterwards. Shortly, she reached her destination and got off the train. A few moments after she had left, the sad woman noticed a piece of paper carefully placed beside her. She read it.

"From the cheerful lady seated next to you. I just want you to know that I have three disabled children, and I understand three times the pain you feel. The only difference between the two of us is that I have accepted my reality".

Many of us are still sad and depressed because we avoid facing facts and refuse to accept reality. We always want to change our current situation and in that way, we get consumed by negative emotions- such as; guilt, shame, bitterness, frustration, hopelessness, irritations, etc.

The truth is that, we can't change everything in our lives, no matter how hard we try. And the moment we realize that certain things will remain the way they are and should be accepted, we will be happy humans in the world. Learn to accept your own reality and see the big difference it would make in your life.

Thanks for reading

https://tc4women.nicheebookcollections.com/NEWSLETTER-EBOOK-LIBRARY-SIGNUP.html We now have over 1700 e-books on our library shelves for your reading pleasure, so do come along and check us out.

More articles by Su DeNyme (our resident writer) & John A Elliott are available here: https://www.nicheebookcollections.com/TC4W/ARTICLES.html

GETTING OLD AND FEELING LONELY

"GETTING OLD AND FEELING LONELY"
(author unknown)

"I am 82 years old, I have 4 children, 11 grandchildren, 2 great-grandchildren and a room of 12 square meters.

I no longer have a home or expensive things, but I have someone who will clean my room, prepare food and change my bedding, measure my blood pressure and weigh me.

I no longer have the laughter of my grandchildren, I don't see them growing, hugging and arguing. Some come to me every 15 days, some every three or four months, and some never.

I don't bake cakes, I don't dig up the garden. I still have hobbies and I like to read, but my eyes quickly hurt.

I don’t know how much longer, but I have to get used to this loneliness.

Here at home, I lead group work and help those who are worse than me as much as I can.

Until recently, I read aloud to an immobile woman in the room next to me, we used to sing together, but she died the other day. They say life is getting longer. Why?

When I’m alone, I can look at photos of my family and memories I brought from home. And that's all.

I hope that the next generations will understand that families are born to have a future (with children) and that they do not forget about the family even in old age."

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More articles by Su DeNyme (our resident writer) & John A Elliott are available here: https://www.nicheebookcollections.com/TC4W/ARTICLES.html

LYING ABOUT MY AGE

"LYING ABOUT MY AGE"
(author unknown)

“You can look at this picture and see how I could lie about my age. I was fifteen but said I was older to get jobs. I had just started working at Greer’s market in Fairhope, wrapping meat and cleaning cases. Jimmy was the assistant manager. He was twenty-five and so nice. I picked him out and wanted to date him. He thought I was older.

I offered a ham to a guy working with us, if he got me a date with Jimmy. Jimmy heard about the ham deal–splitting it would help him out. Jimmy’s brother was crushed in a coal mining accident; he was struggling to take care of his whole family. Jimmy took the deal and asked me to the drive-in movie. I was thrilled. Six of us went in his uncle's little coupe to see Seven Brides for Seven Brothers. Jimmy picked me a rose that night–I kept that flower in my Bible all of my life. When the movie was about over I told him, ‘I think I love you.’ He said, ‘I think we should go.’ He was very responsible, and my age dawned on him. We went home. That was it.

Jimmy spoke to me now and then at Greer’s. I was helping my family, too. My father and grandfather had run the ferry back and forth from Fairhope to Mobile. Then Dad worked on a tugboat. I was eleven when he died from Tuberculosis. Before he passed, he told me to help my mom take care of my two little sisters. I started working as soon as I could.

I was at Greer’s for a few more months after that date with Jimmy, then I lied about my age again for a job at the Grand Hotel. I put on my beautiful brown linen dress and fixed my hair. They thought I was 21 and hired me to be a server. Daddy was in heaven looking down on me–I wouldn’t drink whiskey, but I could make a living selling it. I moved into the dormitory with the other girls working at the hotel. William Holden was one of my first guests; he wanted his crackers and butter first. I learned how to wait on those rich people just right.

Everyone in Fairhope knew the telephone number of the girls' dorm at the Grand Hotel. Jimmy got hold of the number, leaving me a message to meet him at the American Legion Club. I was shocked but tickled and took the hotel bus to meet him. We had a Coke. He told me about his new job at the hotel, and we started dating. I would meet Jimmy at the picture show on Wednesdays, our days off. I put a dollar in his hand every week to pay for the movie. Never saying a word. His money still went to caring for his family. We dated for a year. He got promotions and started making more money. One night after the movie, Jimmy asked, ‘Well, are we going to do it next Wednesday.’ I said, ‘Do what?’ He said, ‘I guess go to Mississippi.’ That's how he asked me to marry him. He was scared to death. I said yes.

We drove to Mississippi, but the courthouse was closed. We went around back and found a man who could marry us. I was 18 by then, but they asked Jimmy–not me–if he was old enough to get married. After we married and walked down the steps, Jimmy ahit me across the back and asked, ‘What do we do now?’ We got home and packed everyone we knew into the car for the midnight movie. That was our reception and honeymoon. We stayed out until daylight, then went to work.

We married in 1952 and later moved to a new house on a dirt road in Fairhope; it was in a cow pasture close to the bay. We bought the house with $500 down and a loan from GI bill. Jimmy worked a couple of jobs so I could stay home with our three kids; he loved coming home to the children, dogs, and me. Every night at dinner, he asked the kids, ‘Have I told you and your mother today that I love you? God has blessed us with another day.’

Jimmy was about to retire. People started saying, ‘Jim, you're getting a stomach on you. Are you drinking beer?’ He had never had a stomach and said, ‘No, I must be eating too much bread.’ It wasn’t bread; it was cancer. Jimmy was determined to live, but the doctor told me, 'you know we're in trouble.’ I didn’t say anything to Jimmy. He lived for only six more weeks. The night before he died, we walked to the Orange Street pier, sat on a bench, and talked. It was the first time he acknowledged he was dying. He told me he wasn't leaving me high and dry. Jimmy was fifty-nine years old when he died. We were married for thirty-four years, but he’s been gone for forty.

I had the best life after I finally got Jimmy Atkins. I would never find another man like him, so I didn't try. I'm 90 years old and still live in our house. I never needed for anything. I kept working and entertaining myself after Jimmy died, but it’s harder now. I broke my hip; it’s tough to get around. I can't work and rake like I used to. That’s defeating, but God keeps me here.

I’m still amazed at how Jimmy cared for us. I think I knew he would be worth the money I invested in him with the ham and the movies. I loved that man and was well-paid back.”

https://tc4women.nicheebookcollections.com/NEWSLETTER-EBOOK-LIBRARY-SIGNUP.html We now have over 1700 e-books on our library shelves for your reading pleasure, so do come along and check us out.

More articles by Su DeNyme (our resident writer) & John A Elliott are available here: https://www.nicheebookcollections.com/TC4W/ARTICLES.html

DON'T DESPAIR

"DON'T DESPAIR"
(author unknown)

Sitting at the window of her convent, Sister Barbara opened a letter from home one evening. Inside was a $100 bill her parents had sent. Sister Barbara smiled at the gesture.

As she read the letter by the window, she noticed a shabbily dressed stranger leaning against the lamp post below.

Quickly, she wrote, "Don't despair. - Sister Barbara," on a piece of paper, wrapped the $100 bill in it, got the man's attention, and tossed it out the window to him.

The stranger picked it up, and with a puzzled expression and a tip of his hat, went off down the street.

The next day, Sister Barbara was told that a man was at the Convent door, insisting on seeing her.

She went down and found the stranger waiting. Without a word, he handed her a huge wad of $100 bills.

"What's this?", she asked.

"That's the $8,000 you have coming Sister," he replied.

"Don't Despair paid 80-to-1

https://tc4women.nicheebookcollections.com/NEWSLETTER-EBOOK-LIBRARY-SIGNUP.html We now have over 1700 e-books on our library shelves for your reading pleasure, so do come along and check us out.

More articles by Su DeNyme (our resident writer) & John A Elliott are available here: https://www.nicheebookcollections.com/TC4W/ARTICLES.html

FIELD OF DREAMS by Joanne Boyle

"FIELD OF DREAMS"
by Joanne Boyle

I'll find you in a field of flowers

of purple orange and blue.

Those were your favourite colours

and now they are mine too.

I'll join you in the age you were

before the angels came,

and we will tell our secrets

and be children once again.

I will pick you out a flower

to take back to heaven with you,

and when each petal unfurls

a memory of us will too.

We will hide amongst the scent

of the days we never had.

Tell stories in the sun

that i can take to mum and dad.

And when we both go home

though our world's are far apart.

I'll give our parents the petal

that you left deep in my heart. ******

Joanne Boyle Heartfelt

art by Steffi Krenzek

https://tc4women.nicheebookcollections.com/NEWSLETTER-EBOOK-LIBRARY-SIGNUP.html We now have over 1700 e-books on our library shelves for your reading pleasure, so do come along and check us out.

More articles by Su DeNyme (our resident writer) & John A Elliott are available here: https://www.nicheebookcollections.com/TC4W/ARTICLES.html

Thursday, 25 April 2024

Ode on a Grecian Urn By John Keats

"Ode on a Grecian Urn"

By John Keats

Thou still unravish'd bride of quietness,

Thou foster-child of silence and slow time,

Sylvan historian, who canst thus express

A flowery tale more sweetly than our rhyme:

What leaf-fring'd legend haunts about thy shape

Of deities or mortals, or of both,

In Tempe or the dales of Arcady?

What men or gods are these? What maidens loth?

What mad pursuit? What struggle to escape?

What pipes and timbrels? What wild ecstasy?

Heard melodies are sweet, but those unheard

Are sweeter; therefore, ye soft pipes, play on;

Not to the sensual ear, but, more endear'd,

Pipe to the spirit ditties of no tone:

Fair youth, beneath the trees, thou canst not leave

Thy song, nor ever can those trees be bare;

Bold Lover, never, never canst thou kiss,

Though winning near the goal yet, do not grieve;

She cannot fade, though thou hast not thy bliss,

For ever wilt thou love, and she be fair!

Ah, happy, happy boughs! that cannot shed

Your leaves, nor ever bid the Spring adieu;

And, happy melodist, unwearied,

For ever piping songs for ever new;

More happy love! more happy, happy love!

For ever warm and still to be enjoy'd,

For ever panting, and for ever young;

All breathing human passion far above,

That leaves a heart high-sorrowful and cloy'd,

A burning forehead, and a parching tongue.

Who are these coming to the sacrifice?

To what green altar, O mysterious priest,

Lead'st thou that heifer lowing at the skies,

And all her silken flanks with garlands drest?

What little town by river or sea shore,

Or mountain-built with peaceful citadel,

Is emptied of this folk, this pious morn?

And, little town, thy streets for evermore

Will silent be; and not a soul to tell

Why thou art desolate, can e'er return.

O Attic shape! Fair attitude! with brede

Of marble men and maidens overwrought,

With forest branches and the trodden weed;

Thou, silent form, dost tease us out of thought

As doth eternity: Cold Pastoral!

When old age shall this generation waste,

Thou shalt remain, in midst of other woe

Than ours, a friend to man, to whom thou say'st,

"Beauty is truth, truth beauty,—that is all

Ye know on earth, and all ye need to know."

https://tc4women.nicheebookcollections.com/NEWSLETTER-EBOOK-LIBRARY-SIGNUP.html We now have over 1700 e-books on our library shelves for your reading pleasure, so do come along and check us out.

More articles by Su DeNyme (our resident writer) & John A Elliott are available here: https://www.nicheebookcollections.com/TC4W/ARTICLES.html