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Nan
Administrator
Member Seraphic
since 1999-05-20
Posts 21191
Cape Cod Massachusetts USA

0 posted 1999-12-30 04:51 PM


(For my "other" wonderful grandmother - Ellen Anderson - (1903-____)

Perspective seen through centenarian eyes
Replete with visions time cannot disguise.
Our blessing still is your sagacious smile,
A hundred years ~ forgetful now, but wise.

Nine decades past, a Finnish child gleams
Vast riches lay in "Great American Dreams."
Once seventeen, alone at Ellis Isle
No limits hence - resplendent U.S. seems.

Your days have seen the horse before the cart
Gas lanterns e'er we knew electric start ~
Since "Model-T's" you'd sooner walk a mile.
From Kitty Hawk, "Endeavor's" worlds apart.

As Prohibition challenged freedom's tole
The "Roaring 20's" yield to "Rock 'n' Roll".
New-fangled gadgets ne'er befit your style -
Simplicity, without remote control.

A toiler through the days of suffragette.
From radio to "color" TV set,
And telegraph to bustling cell-phone dial,
Now ICQ on world-wide internet

In constant strife, our politics five score
Whence numbered I or II, a Great World War
Decried "Depression", "Holocaust" in heil,
Korea, Vietnam, and Desert Storm.

Our presidents, of forty-two you've seen
Each one of nineteen hundred's seventeen,
With JFK your favorite all the while.
Great leaders slain for "civil rights" demean.

Your family's most important to your life
You proudly bore three young as Olof's wife.
Lone son you've lost, yet his your eighth grandchild.
Twelve greats, three great-greats, each one borne your rife.

Today's applaud your independent stealth
In quest of late undaunted elder's health
With innate spirit challenge can't defile
Or quell eyes' yearn, instilled old dreams of wealth

Your riches now your great-great grandchildren.
Our prayer's been met, dear Grammie Anderson,
Perspective with a centenarian smile,
You're seeing now the new millennium.



© Copyright 1999 Nancy Ness - All Rights Reserved
Nate Dogg
Senior Member
since 1999-11-15
Posts 1658
Georgia, Fulton
1 posted 1999-12-30 05:52 PM


Wow, what a neatly-ordered poem Nan! I like this piece of art you've created indeed!

 Nathan

Mike
Member Elite
since 1999-06-19
Posts 2462

2 posted 1999-12-30 06:44 PM


I enjoyed experiencing along with your grandmother.
RainbowGirl
Member Elite
since 1999-07-31
Posts 3023
United Kingdom
3 posted 1999-12-30 06:59 PM


Nan: We learn so much from those older and wiser, I love to talk to them and share their precious memories...thanks for letting us peek in..

HUSG

 Don't ask me where I'm going, just listen when I'm gone and far away you'll hear me singing softly to the dawn.


hoot_owl_rn
Member Patricius
since 1999-07-05
Posts 10750
Glen Hope, PA USA
4 posted 1999-12-30 08:12 PM


What a wise woman your grandmother  
Denise
Moderator
Member Seraphic
since 1999-08-22
Posts 22648

5 posted 1999-12-30 09:38 PM


She certainly has seen quite a bit during this century! Wonderful poem, Nan. And I wish you and your family and Grammie a wonderful New Year!  

 Denise


Nan
Administrator
Member Seraphic
since 1999-05-20
Posts 21191
Cape Cod Massachusetts USA
6 posted 1999-12-30 10:37 PM


Thanks all - There were times this year when we didn't think she was going to make it... but she has... We did have to make her stop mowing the grass and shoveling snow, though (that's the truth).....
Balladeer
Administrator
Member Empyrean
since 1999-06-05
Posts 25505
Ft. Lauderdale, Fl USA
7 posted 1999-12-30 11:16 PM


This is wonderfully written, Nan, a time capsule of the current century. So much has happened, so many changes and still human values are where it's all at. Great poem.
Isis
Member Ascendant
since 1999-09-06
Posts 6296
Sunny Queensland
8 posted 1999-12-31 12:11 PM


Wonderful piece this.  To see as much as your Grandmother would indeed be wonderful.  Perhaps with another 40 - 50 years on my tally, I too will have such interesting stories to tell.
This is timely indeed.  

 At the touch of love everyone becomes a poet. (Plato)
~Isis~
(Daughter of Mystery)


PhaerieChild
Senior Member
since 1999-08-30
Posts 1787
Aloha, Oregon
9 posted 1999-12-31 03:47 AM


Nan, What a timely piece!! I love it! You give us such wonderful insights from another's perspective and I feel very privileged to see things thru their eyes. Lovely piece..

 Poetry~ Words falling on paper, painting a dream.

Shawna R. Holder
Boise, Idaho


Elizabeth Santos
Member Rara Avis
since 1999-11-08
Posts 9269
Pennsylvania
10 posted 1999-12-31 07:18 AM


Beautiful, beautiful tribute
So enjoyable to read
Liz

Rosemary J. Gwaltney
Senior Member
since 1999-08-26
Posts 997
northern mountains, Idaho
11 posted 1999-12-31 09:09 AM


A moving tribute - I thought it was a ballad at first - but what a story!  It must be an experience, to have lived through these astounding hundred years, and having spanned two countries as well.




 ...Living is ever like crossing rivers; finding a new life on each shore ... RJG

Justin Thyme
Member
since 1999-09-13
Posts 216
Oz
12 posted 1999-12-31 09:36 AM


I guess that I am Justin Thyme
to tell you that I LOVE this rhyme!
Your Grammie, yes, has seen our world,
in turmoil and progress unfurled!
I read this piece some Thyme ago.
So glad it's here again, y'know!

To you and Grammie, and those near...
a Fulfilling, Fine and GREAT New Year!

    
JT

U K Hero
Member
since 1999-08-08
Posts 266
England
13 posted 1999-12-31 09:37 AM


Much enjoyed, thanks Nan.
Nan
Administrator
Member Seraphic
since 1999-05-20
Posts 21191
Cape Cod Massachusetts USA
14 posted 1999-12-31 09:43 PM


She's a gem, for sure - I wish we could have her around for another century - or at least a decade.... Thank you all, and Happy New Year to each of you.....
Echo Rhayne
Senior Member
since 1999-09-17
Posts 1495
Canyon Country, CA
15 posted 2000-01-01 12:28 PM


Wonderful work Nan!!!


 ~*~ Hell is not a place of fire and a devil with a tail and horns. But a place of torment because the light of God is gone. To escape this, accept the blood of Jesus Christ! ~*~


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