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Open Poetry #48
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Victoria
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since 2000-08-12
Posts 5869


0 posted 2012-11-14 12:13 PM




I often wonder how my life
would have been different
if my mother had not
brought me over from England
to be with my father who was in
The United States Army.

Everytime I see Big Ben on the
television and when I watched
the Queens Diamond Jubilee
this year my heart still
yearns for England.

I would be speaking with an
English accent like my mother
if I grew up there.
I think of my grandmother who
only held me in her arms
for the first seven months of my life
never to see me again, and my Great
Grandfather who was blind but still
said I was a beautiful baby as he held me
in his large hands.

My mother gave up her country
and her family for my father.
What she never knew was her
mother grew up in a workhouse
along the River Thames after my grandmothers
mother died when she was only eight.
I dont think my mother could have left her and
took me with her if she had known back then but
her mother never said a word.

As I watched the Jubilee and the boats
carrying the Queen down the Thames my eyes
watched the buildings along the river wondering if
I was looking at the workhouse
where my grandmother once lived.

What an unselfish woman she must have been
and if it wasnt for ancestry.com her secret would
have stayed a secret. But thank God she had
a son and another daughter and a wonderful
husband who loved her just because.

They say if you set someone free they arent
yours unless they come back to you.
Im afraid she died before my mother returned
but mom did visit her grave in the churchyard
of the church I was baptised, St. Lawrence and St. Mary.

My mother did return to her roots and
the secrets of yesterday along the River Thames.



A poem is never finished, only abandoned.
- Paul Valery (1871-1945)

© Copyright 2012 Victoria - All Rights Reserved
JerryPat2
Member Laureate
since 2011-02-06
Posts 16975
South Louisiana
1 posted 2012-11-14 12:38 PM


I have been trying to think of how to comment on this piece, Victoria. I guess America isn't in your heart and England is. I'm sorry you had to leave your birthplace.

~*~ If they give you lined paper, write sideways. ~*~

Victoria
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since 2000-08-12
Posts 5869

2 posted 2012-11-14 12:45 PM


I suppose since that is the place I was conceived I have those warm feelings for England and my grandparents who I never met.
I dont miss America because im already here ha. and of course my children and family and mother have always been here.

secondhanddreampoet
Member Ascendant
since 2006-11-07
Posts 6394
a 'Universalist' !
3 posted 2012-11-14 01:44 PM


Excellent 'slice of real life' write. I can't do this particular kind
of 'penning;' however, I most certainly admire those who can!

jwesley
Member Rara Avis
since 2000-04-30
Posts 7563
Spring, Texas
4 posted 2012-11-14 01:58 PM


Wonderful write, my friend...always like to read passages such as this.  

j.

Victoria
Deputy Moderator 1 Tour
Member Ascendant
since 2000-08-12
Posts 5869

5 posted 2012-11-14 02:14 PM


Thank you Dreampoet. Its easy when you remember the bits of information given to you by parents over the years. I think you are just being modest.

Jimmy..Thank you im glad you enjoyed the secrets of my grandmother maybe I should have made that my title.

A poem is never finished, only abandoned.
- Paul Valery (1871-1945)

JamesMichael
Member Empyrean
since 1999-11-16
Posts 33336
Kapolei, Hawaii, USA
6 posted 2012-12-03 07:38 PM


Fine writing...enjoyed reading this...James
Victoria
Deputy Moderator 1 Tour
Member Ascendant
since 2000-08-12
Posts 5869

7 posted 2012-12-03 09:16 PM


Thank you for peeking in James.

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