The blueness of your eyes carries me
To the ocean
Where I float above the undercurrent
Your laughter
Takes me to the mountain tops
Without a fear of falling
Your strength
Supports me when I feel that I may fail
Your caress
Settles me when I’m afraid
We didn’t know before hand
How two lost souls could join as one
Of all the people whose paths
May never cross, ours did
Like the grasses that blow in the
direction of the wind
We were blades it seems
That always grew side by side
How could sips from a glass change the way they felt
holding eye contact, longer than a passing glance
The wine chilled, the heat between them obvious
he with lashes longer than hers
her eyes more emerald than the gem itself
The attraction of first love
one without the other could disappear
and letting go too hard to bare
How we lose ourselves in romance
standing alone, the other gives us strength
so intense in what they feel
Let that feeling remain throughout the years
a blanket that is wrapped around
till only one heart beat is heard
As their fingertips touch cottoned sheets
bringing memories of first meeting
and their kiss goodnight.
Copyright JMTacken 31.12.2014
She left us with a smile
it bounced gently
from across the shores
like rays of sun
into our hearts
the lilt of her voice never heard
her giggles spread
far and wide across the pages
that she wrote
she loved chocolate
spreadsheets, lists
rode on bikes
showed us strength
in oh so many ways
and we were taken in
love and admired
her charm that reached out
to us and we were grateful for
her courage and determination
No matter how long or short a life
sadness falls upon us
when we lose those whom we love
mere words not enough to cover
the uniqueness of a life
the joy they brought
the mutual love and friendship
When they are called to travel on
we are left with memories
cherishing the time
we shared their lives
a candle that once burned so brightly
was extinguished without a flicker
and we now remember how brightly it burned
I still hear her giggles, I do
as I listen to the cello play
Dedicated to our Katie (a WP writer) who left our world and those she loved and who loved her October, 2013. We love you, we miss you, we know you are with us still
Copyright JMTacken 7.11.2014
December 9th 2013 – I posted my last THANK YOU!
How remiss of me for leaving it so long between ‘THANKS’- shame and tut tut (so not my way – or the Aussie way).
December I had 597 followers, 597 people whom I had never met. Never laid eyes on, never met personally (apart from two people) or bought a coup of coffee for, or shared a wine.
Today as of 21st February, 2014 I have 691 followers.
I don’t know you, I don’t know much about your lives or who you are, or what makes you special.
What I do know is that I am grateful, thankful that you have wanted to follow my rantings, raving, poetry, life stories. The ups and downs and in-betweens of who I am and what I write.
So I say THANK YOU to each and everyone of you, I may be weird in doing thank you posts, but that’s who I am and I am very appreciative that you enjoy what I write.
Most of you sit quietly in the background and that’s ok, I’m okay with that, you do what you have to do, as I do what I have to do.
If you wish to stick around I smile, if you get bored and go to greener pastures, I’ll understand.
So it’s just a thank you, pure and simple from my little pink thing that beats.
ocean coloured eyes, auburn curled hair
nestling on her shoulders, stuck with him
the restaurant, crushed napkin folded
kept safe in his worn wallet
her phone number
scribbled in ink, bled from his
sweaty palms over weeks
yet he hadn’t dialed her number
small town, back woods, trying
the best she could, to get out
leave the trailer park, an inner strength
held behind her cerulean eyes
words spoken of her existence
showed determination, he felt weak
amidst her charms, her softness
his a different pain to hers
the napkin dropped near his plate
alongside remnants of mashed potato
beans and meat, he stared at it a while
did she find him attractive
then left, closing the door to her world
to begin again with his, yet
she kept dragging him back, without
a word between them
just this napkin, he couldn’t throw away
she wanted out, she told him so
was he her meal ticket to a better life
to get somewhere, was this his doubt
and then he threw her number away
‘coz he knew he didn’t have the courage
to find out, the risk of being hurt again
to try and make it work
until one summer’s afternoon
when she played so badly on his mind
like a sweet violin
he made a sign
nailed it to the pole
in the street where she worked
and he waited near by
waited and watched for Faye to see
how much she meant to him
how proud he was of her
and how, with lives so different
they were meant to be
©jmtacken Feb 2014
In a bit of a gushy mood today.
Sharing with Jude from http://raisingthecurtain.net who inspired me to write from her latest post – a fellow Aussie who wrote a piece of fiction, please go visit her and thank you for the inspiration Jude 🙂
and also http://dversepoets.com for OLN.
Also a shout out to the wonderful Brian http://waystationone.com for his nudges in all the right places.
PS I have read and commented on other writers linked into DVerse for some time now and in return they kindly read and comment on what I have written . Please show common courtesy by reading and commenting to other writers, it’s a two way street. If I offend anyone by this – I apologise.
Perhaps if it were a full moon last night, I would understand my mood yesterday. Alas it wasn’t, but mood swings strike at even given moment with me. I wonder if others are the same?
I wasn’t prolific in my writing, I thought I would save you all from my moaning and groaning, when there are others far worse off than I.
Last Saturday I took my penguins to a funeral – Catholic ~ one and a half hours of workout, sit,kneel,stand. I am not religious but I stood when was required as I do not mock or disregard other peoples faith.
Pop and mum sat as it was too much for them to stand each time and pop was having a particularly bad day walking and on his legs.
There was one amusing incident, when the priest rang the bells, mum tuttered loudly, I asked what was wrong, she answered someone has their mobile phone on….ok bless.
As I struggled holding mums hand and onto pops walker, so we could walk up the slight incline to see the wife of the deceased (a friend of pops for 40 years) dad started to cry and said ” I’ll be seeing my mate soon” … Yes that started me, so with held back tears I walked them slowly to the car.
During the service which was quite beautiful, the priest read a piece that George (dec) had written for his own eulogy.
He was 88 and had trouble walking, like Pop. He passed in his sleep, may he RIP.
This got me thinking and I asked Pop if he would consider writing something for his Eulogy, that I could read (if I’m able) he agreed and now has written over 1000 words about his life. He acknowledges that it needs to be ‘culled’ edited, but he wants to write it and I am so very proud of him. Who better to write about their life than the person I ask.
I conducted my 1st burial last Wednesday in 40c heat, it wasn’t pleasant, but the family were lovely and invited me back for refreshments and got a chair for me and drinks and sandwiches.
6 children in the family, 19 grandchildren and 29 great grandchildren, who let balloons off at the burial site. Despite the horrific conditions, it was beautiful to witness.
I received a call after I wrote my 2 pieces yesterday and I have another burial next Wednesday, this will be my 8th. A disabled man who passed at the age of 48. To get to know the family’s, their story, their lives, is what makes this calling so worthwhile to me.
So in finishing my chat today, thank you for bearing with me yesterday, for putting up with this Aussie who can be very melancholy one minute and high as a kite the next.
I will get there, I know I will, especially with the support and love of those who continue to read me and I thank each and everyone of you for your kindness, encouragement and unwavering support.
It truly means a lot to me, you are not just readers in different parts of the world, you are my neighbours, my friends, my confidants and you get me through the good the bad and the ugly.
Know that if you need me, I am here for you too, in whatever capacity I can be.
Thank you my virtual friends and those I have met in person ~ I think the world of you and love you.
xxx
as the soft winds blow across the shamrocks
as the salt spray vanishes ‘cross the Irish seas
~ a breath last drawn, somewhere in our world
the insidious hands of a cruel disease
grasping at your loveliness your beauty and your strength
and if I had a four leaf clover, I’d wish for your return
you prayed for its release, we prayed alongside with you
and if hands weren’t clasped, you were in our thoughts
to the Universe; for though I’d never met you
a door was opened to my heart, you let the soft Irish wind
touch my soul, with your words and smiles
a life sorely missed, by your family and by us all
one moment you were with us ~ the other you were gone
we miss the friendship that you gave, the happiness you shared
your ‘lists’ and ‘nods’ and humour ~ life will never be the same
our darling Katie ~ the Irish lass who we all loved
our hearts will remember you, as you watch from up above
I thank you for being you, the gentleness of a friend
I met through writing on W P and my tears keep falling
like the Irish mist ~ I will miss you constantly
R.I.P Katie – October 2013
This was ‘our’ Katie, the Irish lass with a smile in her words, who brought me and many others so much joy.
‘Katiekins’ ~ I miss you, I love you. You are at peace now darling and I am sure you are watching over everyone *nods nods*.
Katie was one of our fellow writers on WordPress . If you knew her and you would like to write something to her daughter Rachel please post on http://irishkatie.wordpress.com/2013/09/28/this-isnt-goodbye/
xxx
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As you may or may not know I met my man the secretive Mr. S (well only secretive because I call him Mr. S and not by his name) on an internet date site, here in Australia. Some sites are reputable, others are shams. Fortunately the one that we used was reputable. Yesterday we celebrated 5 years today of knowing each other and sharing our lives. I had written a post some time back about Internet dating on-line-dating-its-not-just-for-the-desperate but after celebrating our fifth year, I thought I would revisit.
This post however is more about how we met and how life can change if you step outside of the box in a not so conventional way to try and meet someone. When we first met on line, we emailed and chatted back and forth (on the computer) for many weeks every night, we then plucked up the courage for phone calls, again a few weeks, every night, we would talk for hours and I mean hours. We also reached a point with these phone calls where we did the “You hang up…no you hang up” scenario. Strange you may say for a woman who was 52 years of age.
I had only seen one photo of him, on the dating site, I only heard his voice, or read what he was like when we emailed or chatted on line. Trying to gauge a person without physically seeing them can be daunting, but I had to have faith in my intuition by his down to earth nature and humour, that if nothing else I had found a friend. When we decided to meet it was a strange feeling, number one as I had never gone out with a bald man before (or nearly bald I should say) and number two, what if he wasn’t who I thought he was? The doubts came into play and some uneasiness. I had arranged the ‘phone call’ (from daughter # 2) to phone about an hour into our meeting just to check that everything was going smoothly. In the end though I put faith in my gut instinct that all would be well. We met in a public lounge in a large Hotel Foyer, plenty of people, plenty of noise for distraction if required.
If anyone is contemplating meeting someone off the Internet, this is a priority, do not meet them at their home or in a venue that you would not feel safe in. Our first night was pleasant, yes several drinks were consumed to take off the inevitable edge. The conversation did not flow as easily as what I thought it would, considering the amount of time we had talked on the phone and unfortunately I (even though I thought I had) had not quite reached a place of completely getting fully over my ex, which came to the fore later in the evening. Yes I cried tears when Mr S tried to kiss me, I was ready (or thought I was) and though we did, my heart was not there, my thoughts were elsewhere. It was traumatic, how could I treat someone like this, this was not fair on him, so at the end of our evening we both decided that it was best that we remained just friends.
As we were both single and mature adults, neither of us were into the pub-pick-up scene, so movies, dinners etc and having company we thought was better than spending our lives alone,. We also decided that if we met anyone else along the way then so be it, we would part our ways but hopefully still have a friendship. As the weeks passed we saw each other every weekend. Before either of us realised, our friendship had grown into something more. Was it love? The age old question of what is love, how do you define it, what should it feel like, were raised (in my head at least). As a teenager I had many boyfriends, I wasn’t a ‘tart’ but back in my ‘youth’ I thought there was only one sure fire way of hanging onto the ‘boy’ of your dreams… I think you can understand what I am saying here.
When our hormones were racing madly, all we thought about was sex or hanging off the arm of the best looking boy in school, we did not know at that stage it was merely lust not love. I was capricious in my teenage years, I look back now at the ‘want’ of having or being with the ‘boy’ that all the other girls wanted. Did we love each other..we said we did back then, but truly we did not know the meaning of the word. There were the butterflies every time you saw him and equally as much, the ache in your heart when you didn’t. Back then we did not care what they would make of themselves in the future. We cared for the superficial, or sadly to say I did.
As I grew older, I was able to look at the person for who they were, their core, their values in life. We all would like wondrous love that is forever romantic, but realistically in many cases, the romance does fade a little but love still remains. Mr. S and I promised each other (when our light bulbs went on and we knew that we were no longer friends and we were in a serious relationship), that we would never fall into the ‘rut’ – you all know what I mean. The relationship where you don’t appreciate each other, where you don’t make love, where you take each other for granted. Have we maintained this promise? For the most part yes.
Do we appreciate each other after 5 years? Yes we do, Mr. S will put the dishwasher on, or hang up washing, or vacuum floors, or clean the house, without me asking. He knows that I work and that the weekends are for ‘us’ as much as possible. I in turn, will mow the lawns, put the garbage out, or help him when I can. Do we take each other for granted? No, we thank each other still for helping, we tell each other continually that we have appreciated an action or a compliment given.
We laugh, we dance like teenagers crazily around the house, we compliment, we kiss, we hold hands, we hug, we make love, (whenever both of us are awake long enough), but I know that this man that I met five years ago, whom I only thought would only be a friend and nothing more has turned out to be the man that I love and care for, more than any other relationship I have ever had.
Love can develop from friendship.
Yes love , especially as we get older means certain aspects of your relationship slows down or changes, love is knowing that, that person is there for you, is there to share your sorrow and your joys, someone whom you can depend on, talk to and are comfortable with. The butterflies still flutter, just not to the same degree as in your youth, this is something that happens to all of us. Nothing to be afraid of, nothing to be ashamed of.
There are many forms of love, many degrees. No matter how old you are communication and respect for one another must be maintained. Finally the ability to make one another laugh, remember to laugh together.
Mr S and I have not had a cross word or argument in 5 years. Proof that LOVE can grow from friendship.
We kissed
not knowing
what a kiss meant
children young
innocent
but as we grew
friendship transformed
to true binding love
heartfelt and warm
this is the place
where we took
our vows on the sand
committed our lives
to walk
hand in hand
and this is us now
I look back on those years
the first kiss that we took
our crush in school years
our wedding
the joys of
the children I bore
moving houses
the mortgages
the debts and
windfalls
the grandchildren
laughing
the family
that’s ours
the first kiss
that started
what we have now
and yes we make love
we hold hands and we kiss
we share precious moments
and won’t relinquish
what we feel for each other
our love or our bond
our bodies have changed
but our love is still strong
we give thanks to the children
we were on that day and
give thanks to each other
that our love has remained
‘A little bit of the warm and fuzzies’
Ramblings From A Mum 