poems by teddi

[teddi]

thank you, tigerlily.   And judgenot.   here's my latest...


A  DOUBLE  BLESSING

The old lady
Making her way
Through life again--
Nothing new--but
  having thought
She was retired
Learned so late
The pearly gate seemed yet afar
As her bank account dwindled.

Gathering her long skirt
About her, picking up
  her guitar, and
 Antique sleeping-eyed
  baby doll
Made her way 'mid busy streets
To a downtown corner
And bending her knee
Sat upon a keg
Outside Hecker's Ale House
Where many walked in,
  but staggered out.

Her dolly on her lap
A cracked beer stein
  at her feet.
Hoping to arouse
The interest of a passerby
  or an imbiber.
In a Jenny Lind soprano
  fading, but
Lightly sweet, still,
Began with her guitar's
  first strum--
"Oh, my daddy
Where are you tonight?
Our baby misses you
 In our home, so dim
  without any light.
Please bring home
Those quarters, and
  nickels please--
That we may eat bread
  and this winter
  not freeze.
My mother cares for me, but
her nickels are few
To make our bed warm, and
Keep away the flu."

Continuing to sing
as patrons sauntered in--
until a thin young man
approaching the pub doorway
  stopped--
Turning his smudged face
  toward her, and
  looking at the scene
Walked over, and with
"I don't know how to begin"--
  and
Taking his hand
From his pocket, dropped
  a silver dollar
Into the stein--with
"Thank you, my friend."


A tear rolled down
Her lined and sallowed face
As she was rising
  in gratitude
Wanting to embrace
For this generous gift--
But whirling about
  at such a pace
He hastened down the walk
Suddenly aware, of
  What he was thinking--
Spending a day's earning's
on an evening's drinking.
Hearing prosaic men
  curse and spat
  at their job
They worked each day
While ogling women servers
Trying to balance
  a heavy tray.

His steps
  grew happily faster
As he neared the weathered home
Thinking of his wife
  and baby daughter
Anxiously waiting, all alone.

Approaching his gate
He lifted his head upward
  and
Looked into the sky
The stars seemed
  to be dancing
Expecting this reply
"O Thank you, God
For the old lady's song
  that kept me
  from doing wrong.
You didn't forsake me
  in a moment's
  naieve frivolity, but
  re-echoed a memory
Out of a childhood's past
  and my mother's
  broken spirit, from
A shadow, heavily cast
By my father's
  drunken brawls
Until she lay sleeping--
In the graveyard
  so vast."

[sincereheart]

I think this is my favorite, so far!  

[JudgeNot]

Teddi - you are very talented - I agree with sincereheart, the last one is particularly good!

[The Crusader]

My dear Father,
  Now that I pray
  Help it to be, in a heavenly way,
  Not for trivial things I plead,
  But for courage
  To teach those who need
  Thy loving words
  To lift their load
  As daily they trudge along life's road.

Enjoyed, Amen

<))><

[teddi]

thank you, Crusader.    

And JudgeNot.  


And sincereheart.    

[teddi]

GOD’S WONDERS      3-24-04

Thank you, Lord
   for giving me vision
   to behold these beautiful sights -
The first violet of Spring
   peeping from ‘neath
   the sanctuary
   of a lovely green leaf;
A baby’s first smile;   
   lips curled so gently,
   no vestige of guile
   just pleasure, yet faintly-
      and
The blessing of sound
   of chirps and trills
   along the robin’s return flight
   in building her nest
A place to rest, and
   to fill
   with fragile eggs
   of beautiful blue -
Soon
   Little robins will be flying
   all over the vale,
   and singing
   for me
   for you
Thank you, God,
   for all these wonders
   introducing
Another Spring
   so gloriously new!      
   

[Whitehorse]

Very nice! And very timely, since I saw my first Robin this week!

[teddi]

thank you, whitehorse.  I like your Revelation scripture reference.

[teddi]

"DEATH"

The grave cannot hold
  the soul
That has finished its journey here-
  Our Lord made clear, but
  must release
it from its house
of flesh and nerve
To ascend beyond,
above, and
  forever serve.

[Whitehorse]

Thanks! BEP came up with it for me. He graciously made the signature tags that you'll see here at the forum, so I asked him to be the designer for mine. I was studying the apocolypse at the time, so I asked him to integrate it. I think he makes beautiful designs. I also use a couple of his designs for other things.  

[tony]

Teddi,

What wonderful words of poetry.  God has inded blessed you with a gift.  Keep using it for the glory of God.

Your Brother in Christ,

Tony

[teddi]

Thank you, everyone.   Just to let you know, teddi went to be with the Lord, this last weekend, Sunday morning, July 18, 2004, at 11 a.m.  teddi had suffered through June and on into July variously, and the second trip to the hospital and several days of antibiotics left her immunities depleted.  Diarrhea (C. Diff.) invaded, leaving her progressively dehydrated, and miserable often, but unable to drink but tiny sips b/c of nausea, and unable to eat at all for the last five days.  A hospital could easily have stablized her, but she had told me no more hospital trips, and no nursing home. teddi, my mother, was 86.  At 89 lbs, for her last few years, there just wasn't much left to deplete.  The diarreha just took the last energies out of her that last night.

teddi was one of us who grew better with age.  She loved everyone at the last, and Saturday night, waved goodbye to me from the hospital bed here at home.  She had been a learning lesson for me, since I had cared for her the last few years.  I hope I can ever be half the person she was.  She was always ready to smile, good for a funny joke, and was always ready to read from the Word, and to pray.  We last were able to read together, from the book of Job, and the Gospel of John, on July 4th.

[sincereheart]

  I'm sorry to hear of her pain - and yours!


Sounds like teddi was a wonderful inspiration! Thank you for sharing!

I'll be hugging my mom today with the reminder that our time here is limited!