A Special Portrait

FACE OF THE WEEK
http://spacialpeepol.blogspot.com/2010/05/witchy-daughter-face-of-week-12.html
&
WRITER'S RETREAT
http://weekendwritersretreat.blogspot.com/2010/05/eighteenth-retreat.html
A SPECIAL PORTRAIT

My Mother was ninety-seven and very far from strong,
But Rebecca was getting married and Mum wanted to come along.
Two nurses from the Nursing Home pushed her in a chair,
And we were so delighted to have her company there.
I bought a dress in lavender; her hair looked soft and neat,
But she couldn't see in a mirror that she looked very sweet.
Her eyes have an expression that twinkles though, by then,
She was completely blind and she would never see again.
But she looked into the camera and wished the couple well,
And though she couldn't see them no-one was able to tell.
She died only one month later, quietly, in her sleep.
And this is a portrait of her that I'm always going to keep.
Hers was a sort of courage that kept going stoically.
And I only hope that some of her has been passed down the line to me.
*

In Earlier Days.
*

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                          Brenda Bryant

As you can see, this poem was written for a poster for schools, when I was working as a copywriter, after my retirement from teaching. I've re-typed it to make it easier to read.

FAMILY TREE

Family Trees are enormous plants,

Sprouting with parents and uncles and aunts;

With brothers and sisters in every cranny

And, here and there, a special Granny.

Small baby cousins soon appear

For there's someone new almost every year,

 And weddings may bring us new relations

Who may even come from different nations!

The roots are down in the sweet, rich earth

Of a faraway land or the land of our birth,

And the future branches will sweep the sky,

Ever more leafy and ever more high.

Someone in the future will bear my name

And maybe their features will look the same!

Oh how lucky we are to be

Part of a beautiful Family Tree!

*