deedeewisdom

MY SADNESS

I miss people
I yearn to hug
I yearn for my smile
When I see you
To be seen by you

How long will this separation last?
How long will my wrinkled yet
Beautiful face
Be concealed behind a mask?

the answer to these questions does not matter
Yet I ask them because
My true nature in this world
Is being diminished

Wicked virus
What have you done to us?

Little did I know
Year after year
Attending Handel’s “Messiah”

That your years were numbered
My dear sweet and loving sister Ellie

The long and tedious walk
From the parking garage to Symphony Hall
Harder and harder for you every year

Little did I know that each and every
“Every valley shall be exalted, every mountain and
hill made low, the crooked straight and the rough
places plain”
Was your deep hearted prayer to the Almighty
Who made you in His image and likeness

Your comfort at “His Yoke is Easy and His burden light”
Was beautiful

To the astounding “I will shake the heavens and the earth,
the sea and the dry lands”
Where I watched you tremulous and shaking
Along with the deep-voiced bass

You, beside me, whom I just seemed to
Always take for granted
That you would be there
Year after year

There beside me with your eyes closed
At Symphony Hall,
Communing with your God

“Oh death, where is they sting?
Oh grave, where is thy victory?”

This year both of your sisters were there
Watching, listening
Rejoicing with you,
Oh sister of our hearts.

You went Home to our Lord on 9/20/18.

Love, your sister DeeDee

I was invited to write some “tankas” a form of poetry:

IN SILENCE
In silence she kneels
The morning gives her promise
Time heals all and yet
The wounds of yesterday speak
She hopes her prayers silence them

IN GLORY
In glory and praise
The world wakes from its slumber
Hidden miracles
Await the full sun’s splendor
Secrets unfold in between

BREEZES OF GRACE
Sometimes in silence
We hear the loudest voices
The breeze of grace flows
To open what is our own
And give the world our treasures

THE DRAGONFLY BLOUSE
The dragonfly blouse
When worn brings comments many
“It makes me happy”
Or “It reminds me of Mom”
A dragonfly hat is next

Submitted to the Writers Group at the Richards Library, North Attleboro
Diane Findlen Garrow 12/16

She sat at his bedside
Every morning from 5 to 7am

I came in and she helped me turn him —
Her child
Her heart
Her 16 year old baby
Who was comatose

She asked me how his night had been
Any changes?
Any problems?
Any signs of awakening?

She touched him gently
And kissed his thick brown tussled hair

His body was young and strong
His soccer team had sent
Cards and balloons
The very walls screamed
WHY?

Why at that moment
A month ago
An 18 wheeler went out of control

Why, on that road
On that day
At that hour

This child
Driving alone
Home from soccer practice

Now could not speak to his mother?

And I, his nurse
Helpless
Cared for this precious child

In my hands and with my care
He relied for his life:
The correct medications
At the correct time
Into the tube

The tube that gave him nourishment
As his mother watched
And prayed
And waited

His mother who sat here every morning
Before work
And stayed strong
And hopeful
And never strayed from her belief
That he would come back

I saw her courage
I saw her hope
I saw her love

And he felt her presence

And I, his nurse,
Was honored

To watch this profound lesson

In human love

Diane (Findlen) Garrow

I worked on a head injury unit years ago and I wrote it then. My son was also 16 years old. That experience will stay with me forever

Ode to the Double Tree of Life

Tall and broad your two strong trunks
Gave rise to a mammoth height

A height that brought us shade and
A connection to above

But most of all oh tree of delight
You were the play yard of joy

Where two little boys ran and jumped for joy
Our games always included you

You were the source from which our sabers
Were energized

You were the marvelous majesty of might
To you we looked for strength

Now you are gone

An empty, sunny spot now sits
Missing the games we played

But most of all missing your sweet shade
And deep abiding companionship.

Diane Findlen Garrow
Written in memory of the dear tree that the grandsons played “Chase away the demons from the yard” with Grandma and each time we touched the tree with our swords (the double tree of life had supernatural powers of course), we would run around the parameter of the yard, knowing the “bad guys” were defeated. This picture taken years later of course, the grandboys are pre-teens here in this picture.

7/5/16

I knew that he was aware of the white object far in the distance. I imagined that he also knew that it was not an object since it moved about. Yet for three years they had never met.

But early this morning, when the birds had been singing sweetly for about an hour, I spotted these 2 near the vegetable garden. Neither moved. They stared at one another with an innocence and curiosity that touched my most sensitive, inner being. They were only inches apart.

In utter fascination I moved slowly towards them. Maya, the sleek and gentle white dog from next door, lay on her back inviting me to pet her.

My cat, shy, gentle, yet exquisitely inquisitive, sat and watched me pet the neighbor’s dog. Oakie did not make a sound, just sat and observed.

After a minute or two of doggie affection, Maya went home.

Oakie and I came into the house, me saturated in doggie smell and Oakie most willing to rub up against me and let Maya’s scent permeate him.

And thus cat meets dog.

Diane Findlen Garrow 6/22/16

I await the glorious rhythm of life
And when I feel it
I dance

I dance with those who smile
I dance with those who mourn
I dance with those who love

And when I dance
I hold your hand in praise
To that Almighty Creator

Who gave us feet for dancing
Who gave us arms for hugging
Who gave us voices for singing
Who gave us each other for loving

Gracias

January 9, 2016
Diane Findlen Garrow

I swam for you today
Lover of life, lover of waves
I tasted salt
You were with me

Our souls came from this brine
Original
Sinful
Searching for love

As I swim amongst the fish
You are in the deep
With me
Waiting for atonement

We are the world.

Diane Findlen Garrow
7/21/15

My eyes first awoke to the moving truck, the whole family and many young bucks pitching in.
To where are they destined?

Then came the young woman readying for her bicycle sojourn, body ready for a challenge.

Turned the corner to hibiscus, shouting their glory silently to those who will admire them.

Around the bend the FOR SALE sign gone and new owners in, with a pile of firewood ready for a
Not so certain winter

Then on the right the retired man out surveying his property with special attention to the front porch.

Soon along on the right a tiny toddler at the screen with her unique and unintelligible greeting.

Meanwhile a white cat with pink collar sitting pretty at the third floor window.

And all along the sounds and smells and sights of the glorious morning, irresistible and iridescent.

Lo! a sparrow on a wire, a momentary pause.

Continuing now, a yard sale in the preparation stage, God does not make junk, though this looks like junk
to me.

A new electric pole now bound to the old, a month ago it was a tree in the forest of Maine.

Squirrel found a luscious wood fruit and covets it tightly in his mouth.

Two flags appear waving at me USA and MIA. The flagpole speaks to the wind.

Two elms reach over the road and give me a cool canopy.

As I near my home and leaves fall in the gentle breeze, I hum “Autumn Leaves”.

What if I had missed this walk, or took the walk and missed the scenes, souls and sounds?

Diane Findlen Garrow