Riding the Greyhound - Seventeen, Again (from Boyhood Tales)

How to Join	Member's Area	Private Library	Search	Sanctuary		Login
Main Forums	Discussion	Tech Talk	Mature Content	Archives	A home without a wall, Our haven without ends, A circle we all call Our Family of Friends!

jwesley
Member Rara Avis

since 2000-04-30

Posts 7563
Spring, Texas

0 posted 2011-09-17 11:00 PM

Riding the Greyhound - Seventeen, Again
(from Boyhood Tales)

Rummaging -
cleaning off closet shelves,
obviously finding things not seen
in years - I found a picture,
one locked in an old, silver bracelet.
You know. . .
those with a chain-link band,
and a thin, rectangular box,
with a flip-up top
that you put a picture in -
they were pictures back then,
not photographs.
Rummaging, I opened it:
and was instantly seventeen, again.
Seventeen, in June, Fifty-plus years ago,
standing just outside the door of a
Greyhound Scenicruiser bound for San Diego,
the Navy Recruit Training Center,
a whole new chapter of life.
Seventeen, when you put it on my wrist
saying you'd always be there.

Rummaging, old as I am now.
Remembering -
I never saw you again.

The Greyhound took me away.
Changed my life . . . forever.

© wesley james beard, jr.
sept. 2011

katahdin
Senior Member

since 2010-07-01

Posts 1196
ME. In the Shadow of the Mt.

1 posted 2011-09-17 11:12 PM

Nicely done. You never know what little thing could change your life or bring back a forgotten memory.
Kat >^..^<

OwlSA
Member Rara Avis

since 2005-11-07

Posts 9347
Durban, South Africa

2 posted 2011-09-18 01:01 AM

Jimmy, I enjoyed your story very much.  I know that strong, tugging feeling of that momentary link to the past.

It is sad that you never saw her again.  Whilst I understand that that was about 50 years ago and you are very happily married, but I must say that I nearly cried at the end of the poem - the tears welled up in my eyes - until I reminded myself that you aren't really back there when the Greyhound bus took you away forever, and you are very happily married.  The tears that nearly flowed were also for the beauty of the poem and the strength of the moment when the bracelet took you back so vividly to when she put it on you, just before you got on the Greyhound bus.

You expressed it superbly Jimmy.  I saw the two of you and the bus very clearly.

Owl

flash
Member

since 2010-11-28

Posts 213
miami beach, florida

3 posted 2011-09-18 04:11 AM

Jimmy: I can relate to this; how, in the couse of life's events, the things we hold dear at some juncture--shifts--changes forever. The hard part is thinking about what might have been--had you not taken that Greyhound bus and joined the Navy.

Enjoyed the trip down memory lane!

Al

Margherita
Member Seraphic

since 2003-02-08

Posts 22236
Eternity

4 posted 2011-09-18 04:30 AM

You shared this memory so beautifully with us, dear Jimmy!

"I never saw you again" ... it happens ever so often. And yet every single experience makes us who we are now. In the garden of our existence there is room for many different species of flowers.

Greatly enjoyed!

Rummaging, remembering, smiling and moving on ...

Love,
Margherita

"Love is the One who masters all things;
I am mastered totally by Love."
(Rumi)

ice
Member Elite

since 2003-05-17

Posts 3404
Pennsylvania

5 posted 2011-09-18 06:46 AM

Love this, love "boyhood tales".

Sometimes we need to find things to stir the tales up, you found a good one for a topic. Thank you for sharing the impulses felt by ofinding the locket.

Come read to me some poem,
Some simple and heartfelt lay,
That shall soothe this restless feeling
And banish the thoughts of day.
Longfellow

JL
Member Ascendant

since 2004-04-01

Posts 6128
Texas, USA

6 posted 2011-09-18 08:21 AM

Great story!
And, you tell the story so well.

JL

Love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul,and with all your mind. Love your neighbor as yourself.
Maranatha!

suthern

Member Seraphic

since 1999-07-29

Posts 20723
Louisiana

7 posted 2011-09-18 02:46 PM

I read this and remember a soldier who left me with a poem... and met someone else at the end of his bus ride. *S* Believe it or not, I came upon that poem just yesterday. *S* I love all your Boyhood Tales... but obviously, this one is special to me. *S*

Now... about that other posting? *S* Please?? *S* With sugar on top? LOL

jwesley
Member Rara Avis

since 2000-04-30

Posts 7563
Spring, Texas

8 posted 2011-09-18 03:43 PM

Thank you all for you kindness...

and Suthern...o-kay. . .

j.

	⇧ top of page ⇧
All times are ET (US). All dates are in Year-Month-Day format.