God’s Grace
You went on
After more losses
Than I can name
With you as
Mother and model
I must do the same
You suffered and
I do not ask you
To bear more pain
You are eternally well
Still saying, “I love you”
Again and again
(Published in Bell’s Letters No. 109; and The Discerning Poet, Autumn 2004)
And two years later…
Taking turns
Letting each other go
Only to learn again
How love grows,
Mother
Published in Bell’s Letters Poet No. 115, Jan. 2006.
FIRST WORSHIP
The teakettle, heating
Mutters.
Old elbows on the
Counter
Support my head.
First worship
Always free.
Published with permission from Win Couchman.
Win is the author of “Don’t Call Me Spry” Creative Possibilities for Later Life (Harold Shaw Publishers, 1990); and a co-author of other books with her husband, Bob. “First Worship” is a new poem.
Another of Karl’s photos of Lake Michigan became the cover of Quiet Christmas Poetry. The blog is a free online version of the large print chapbook.
Post updated on January 24, 2015.
Soon the sun will rise.
I love the seasons wherever I am…as I type in the morning, I watch the light change over Lake Michigan. At this moment, the lake is very still. A few ripples. There are icebergs and a ribbon of rose along the horizon.
On Sunday, a wounded fox came to a sunny spot in our front yard, right in front of the house, to rest and heal. He or she seemed unafraid and not in pain. When we came home a few hours later, the fox was gone. I am honored that we were a safe place for a time.
Lake Michigan has always been a part of my life. My parents took us to feed the ducks there in Milwaukee when we were young. When Karl and I lived in Illinois, we drove to Chicago to walk the beach there. Here every season, we usually go for a drive further north to see other views of the lake. I cooked and waitressed at Pizza Hut when we were students at the University of Wisconsin-Madison. So sometimes we pick a Pizza Hut in a northern city for our destination.
We like our “tried and true” routines. We know what a blessing from God they are and not to be taken for granted.
“Everything Can Change Overnight” was written a long time ago, when we lived in an unincorporated area of northern Illinois. Corn fields became subdivisions and shopping malls. Cars went by fast, and it wasn’t easy to go for a long walk after awhile.
The following poem was how I felt when fields by our home started going the way of development too.
Yet, there was a saving grace: wetlands.
Part of the area had to become ponds; signs posted later on taught us that this protected our basements from water. Native plants were added, herons and red-wings came. “The pond” became a place of healing for me. I walked on safe gravel paths and sat on benches. It was beautiful in every season and has stayed in my soul. I take country roads for my errands here, so I can still know this aspect of God’s gifts to us in nature. I listen for the red-wings every spring and see herons here too.
Here is the poem, however, exactly as I wrote it back then. Perhaps this story can offer hope that things can turn out better in the long run than we first imagine.
I have loving memories of this little house and neighborhood–it was simply time to come home to Wisconsin.
Everything Can Change Overnight
In the Midwest, if you’re a walker
You walk through the seasons:
Today brings a blast of wind and
The first snow of the year;
So I add another layer and
Head out…And look! See how
The snow gives dignity back
To these familiar fields,
Sacrificed to another subdivision.
Nobody’s working now, and the
Silent tractors stand like
Tired oxen pleading forgiveness
For the pain that ripped across
My heart the day the assault began.
Everything can change overnight,
But the wind that chaps my cheeks
Soothes my soul.
Published in Poetic Page (1994); and
OMNIFIC (1995, WEEMS CONCEPTS).
The ripples of a life:
Your black iris hangs
In my study–
(the walls are grey and
you would approve);
How could you know the beauty
You would bring into our lives
You, who painted flowers
big to make us see–
Intensity of color to
Mirror intensity of soul,
And, having found
Expression, tranquillity of
Soul.
You couldn’t have known, not truly.
You were simply working hard,
Faithful to what you saw.
You painted your way
And your passing grieves me.
Published in HARD ROW TO HOE, Reviews From Rural America (Winter 1994, Vol III).
The print referred to is from a showing of O’Keeffe’s work at The Madison Art Center: Paintings 1919 – 1977.
March 3 – April 29, 1984.
G OD’S
R ESURRECTION
I NFORMS
E VERY
F EELING
Published in SMILE ( No. 44, 2004).
This acrostic was given to me after my mother’s passing.
In loving memory of Enola M. Borgh.
Blessings, Ellen
* * *
Update, October 1, 2014: I have a small site, Grief And Acceptance.
Poems From Oostburg, Wisconsin 