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SPIRIT
Senior Member

since 2002-12-29

Posts 1745
California Desert

0 posted 2004-07-05 05:40 PM

Wooden Heart

I am nothing…
But a wooden heart.
A school project
In 1943, by little Sophie Mae
For Father’s Day.
Then, when new
I was painted
Glossy red…
‘Daddy‘ in childish hand
Was inscribed by deeply scratching
Into the wood.

I am very worn now
But every year I am tied
With an elegant bow
To the Christmas tree.
I have seen much
… done much
Since my beginning
Sixty years ago.

I was the ‘worry stone’
For Sophie’s father,
As he served and fought
For  his country in World War 2.
He rubbed most of my color away
As he sat in the trenches,
Or at night when sleep
Was more than troubled.

He  held me tight
And prayed for his daughter Sophie
As he had guard duty…
I have felt his tears on my wood
As he has kissed gently
…my inscription.

I was carried into the Korean Conflict,
A ‘worry stone’ once again
For Sophie’s brother.
Then  returned to the family
In a plastic bag
Along with the rest of his belongings.

Vietnam was next,
A long ribbon tail glued
To the back of me,
I made a grand bookmark
For the small Bible ,
Carried by Sophie’s husband,
A medic who distinguished himself
By his courage and his faith
During this most
Misunderstood  conflict.

I have seen many deaths,
And many joyous births.
Survived with Sophie
The loss of her first born,
A  painful divorce
From him…her love
Who could not deal
With the aftermath of Vietnam,
Her bout with breast cancer,
And a happy remarriage.

I have been touched up,
Several times over…
My home an ornament box
Of handed down
To be kept, in the family
Forever and ever
Christmas tree decorations.

Each and every year
I expect to be my last.
I am dinged, dented
Worn thin in the center
With fragments of me missing,
Splintered.
But no!
Every year I am placed lovingly
Beneath the angel topper,
I have been deemed a keeper.

I love Christmas
A family time of rejoicing
For Him
…who was a gift to humankind.
I see Christmas
As a family time of togetherness,
Counting blessings,
Loving, laughing, caring,
I am nothing…
But a wooden heart.
Yet !
I  see Christmas,
Ah yes!
I see Christmas.
My wish would be
That everyone could see
Christmas…
Through the eyes
Of a wooden heart.

Marge Tindal

Member Empyrean

since 1999-11-06

Posts 42384
Florida's Foreverly Shores

1 posted 2004-07-05 07:03 PM

SPIRIT~
This nostalgic beauty is a

I pray my children value the 'memoried pieces' as tenderly as this penning depicts~
Somehow ... I believe they will~

Thank you for the sweet tears of remember~
*Huglets*
~*Marge*~

~*When the heart grieves over what it has lost,
the spirit rejoices over what it has left.
- Sufi epigram <))><

noles1@totcon.com

Beasley
Senior Member

since 2003-11-28

Posts 682
Cheboygan,MI USA

2 posted 2004-07-05 07:04 PM

What a marvelous poem. Nice job!
Barb

Joyce Johnson

Member Rara Avis

since 2001-03-10

Posts 9912
Washington State

3 posted 2004-07-05 07:14 PM

This is wonderful. I have a little homemade bell that my darling granddaughter made in school. She brought it home and gave it to me instead of her mama. It has hung on a top branch of my Christmas tree every year. The hanger came off, her grandpa glued it back. Both my little Joycie and her grandpa are gone ahead, but the little bell still hangs gaily on my tree each yuletide. Love, Joyce

Trillium

Member Patricius

since 2001-03-09

Posts 12098
Idaho, USA

4 posted 2004-07-05 10:11 PM

SPIRIT: I have keepsakes like this, I use every Christmas, although not as traveled as your wooden heart. Each one brings me special memories of happy times with my children, years past.

Love
Betty Lou

Betty Lou Hebert

midnightblues
Senior Member

since 2000-07-01

Posts 1597
Singapore

5 posted 2004-07-06 12:54 PM

Dear SPIRIT,

tis amazing autobiography! i could feel the anxiety and sweet reminisce in your beautiful poem

thanks for sharing

Love
MiCheLLe

If there cannot be equal in affection, then let the one with more be me - midnightblues

SPIRIT
Senior Member

since 2002-12-29

Posts 1745
California Desert

6 posted 2004-07-06 01:17 AM

Thanks for reading and responding - I appreciate it, most of my writing is strictly
imagination - I love writing in the first person.

PatAngel
Member

since 2004-04-05

Posts 451
California

7 posted 2004-07-06 09:19 PM

SPIRIT~

This is absolutely wonderful! I enjoyed it very much.

Patricia

'When you find a dream within your heart, don't ever let it go.
For dreams are the tiny seeds from which tomorrow grows.'

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