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Don Bouchard Apr 2014
Portia and Bassanio

Brave Portia's lot was cast
Inside a mocking case of lead,
Morrocco came and passed,
Then Arragorn, arrived and left, forlorn.
A list of louts came, failed, and went
Before Bassanio played his turn...
Poor rich Portia's patience spent,
Nerissa's lady solace yearned

Antonio, Bassanio, a troubled pair
A wily shark a loan arranged,
Whose bite, though small,
Beyond compare aimed deepest
To the matters of the heart.

Antonio, about to lose his fortune,
Bemoaned the losing of a friend,
The foiling of a fortune, sunk.

Shylock, certain of his pound of flesh,
Summarily dismissed by gentile gender-bending,
Played as a fool by a woman posing as a man,
Who drove a lawyer's visage in a Portia.

All ended well, at least for "Christian" men...
Life sweetened by the turning of a Jew,
No matter his conversion at duress...
Straight away Portia and Nerissa turned back
A ******* borrower who had landed on his feet,
And sprang their traps to tame their husbands' heat.
(To Ellen Terry)

I marvel not Bassanio was so bold
To peril all he had upon the lead,
Or that proud Aragon bent low his head
Or that Morocco’s fiery heart grew cold:
For in that gorgeous dress of beaten gold
Which is more golden than the golden sun
No woman Veronese looked upon
Was half so fair as thou whom I behold.
Yet fairer when with wisdom as your shield
The sober-suited lawyer’s gown you donned,
And would not let the laws of Venice yield
Antonio’s heart to that accursed Jew—
O Portia! take my heart:  it is thy due:
I think I will not quarrel with the Bond.
Pixievic Mar 2016
I walk down the street.
There is a deep hole in the sidewalk.
I fall in.
I am lost... I am helpless.
It isn't my fault.
It takes forever to find a way out.

I walk down the same street.
There is a deep hole in the sidewalk.
I pretend I don't see it.
I fall in again.
I can't believe I am in the same place.
But, it isn't my fault.
It still takes me a long time to get out.

I walk down the same street.
There is a deep hole in the sidewalk.
I see it is there.
I still fall in. It's a habit.
My eyes are open.
I know where I am.
It is my fault. I get out immediately.

I walk down the same street.
There is a deep hole in the sidewalk.
I walk around it.

I walk down another street
This is a poem I keep with me (on a tattered bit of paper in my wallet!) I look at it to remind myself I don't have to fall into the same hole when things go bad - thought I'd share it (mostly as my own words aren't coming at the moment!!) - Walk down a different street!!
edwill makamu Apr 2016
I attained that you are predetermined,
quiet and an ever stalwart girl
I attained you are admiring success
and you are precisely deigned

with truthful excitement and analyses each move you make
you are an expertise really,
and you have the ability to learn with understanding
you're introspective, yet you're introvert

Let me say you like September breeze - my month
That's why I have a faculty to detect a bigger picture of you
That's why I consociate with you
I'm sure God brought you to life just for me

Me and you have allotment in common,
and we can achieve the innermost of it
I would name her portia, your name of course
if I were to have a baby girl with you

from your intellectualist optimism,  
I'm sure she would adapt clearly
I'm sure she would suits the two of us' s integrity
if we are a summer breeze,
she would be like a December beverage
The three of us full of smiles
Anais Vionet Feb 2023
A governess, a guardian of the young, so known and dear as to be called “Mother” and a noblewoman, just barely 12 by age, named Portia, sit talking as the sun sets the stage for a cool, cloudless night.

“Mother, who invented candlelight and the slow, delicate brush of lips?”
“Some rakish boy, pawning his experience for present pleasure, no doubt.”
“Say true, Mother. If you were a man, would you find this common body worthy of love?”
“You show no blemish child, and display a certain bony voluptuousness - I should think.”
The governess begins to comb and braid Portia’s hair for sleep.
“I saw Portincio this morning, in the courtyard.”
“The boy from Padua?”
“He’s a man Mother, and his cast portents a passion so sweet - it shakes my very frame.”
Mother chuckles, “Even hopeless birds sing in cages.”
“I am not hopeless!” Portia writhes angrily, like a snake about to strike but mother calms her.
“Shoo, shoo, now,” Mother purrs, brushing all the more gently, “I meant nothing of it.” After a moment, she continues, “Love is more than coquetry, little one, and it soon passes - like a parade, or a rash. For now, be happy, you are like the chaste stars - unreachable.”
BLT Marriam Webster word of the day challenge: Coquetry: “flirtatious acts”
Chris Saitta Jun 2019
I make my grave in her dark treason of hair,
Fragrant master of soldiers and memories,
Bei capelli, conspiracy of internecine curls.
Her upbraidings strangle all my sweet nothings
To breathless wish of the emperor-purple of lips.

Flow then like black gloss of birds
And the brood hatchlings of shadow, exiled eastward,
Fled like a premonition of warmth somewhere far off,
While the wine-colored blood spills his heart into a throng of mouths.

Love, you are the hardest grave,
Were you ever just a kiss
Or always from daggers made?
Porcia or Portia was second wife to Marcus Junius Brutus.  She has been speculated to be one of the few who knew of the plot against Caesar.
"Bei capelli" is translated as "beautiful hair."
Rachel W Apr 2016
Thy heart is big
Lend me your hand
Because I love you, I shall let you know
That our faults lie not in our stars
But that we are mere mortals

Your once commended beauty--
Still Lingers

All my vows of love--
Still Strong

You are as dear to me
As the life blood in my veins

Kneel not, gentle Portia

I love you well
Not without cause
Let me, upon my knee, prevail in this
A found poem inspired by the tragedy of Julius Caesar by William Shakespeare.
Mary Gay Kearns Oct 2018
In purple checked dresses we are confronted
Behind a piano sits ‘Miss Creak’ head of house
She has one bad eye, unfixable from childhood
But plays beautifully perched on an oakwood
And fabric stool. This is our secondary school.

On the wall above the piano is a framed print
‘Madonna of the Meadows’ by the artist Bellini
I pushed a drawing of a couple intertwining
Under ‘her’ door knowing she never would have
But a boy may have felt affection for ‘that’ affliction.

Here we all ate meals, did fashion shows and sang
I was glad my dress was purple not orange or red
Went better with my blue eyes and blonde hair
The rest of the school diveded into coloured checks
To represent Shakespearean female characters.

Just opened in Wandsworth a new comprehensive
Serving all abilities, behaviours and nationalities
Cordelia, Beatrice, Juliet, Katharine,
Portia, Rosalind, Olivia, Viola a rather unsuitable
Vision for such an uptake of adolescent froth.

Miss Creak was, kindly, I wish I had always been.
Based on my own life and true.Mary
Did anyone know the school.
Hear the banners, blaring,
In a Castle, sun-bathed white.
Wrapped in the golden sunsets
of both East,
and West.

Come closer, into this Castle's realm
see crops blazing with activity,
what might be prosperity,
or laughing children
and screams of joy, and laughter.

Talk to a farmer girl, of this Castle,
Listen to her tale:
I was wrought from Issac and Portia,
a Nobleman, and a Common-folk.
Together, they brought me,  16 years ago.
From the dusty deserts, that bloom green plants,
I sit lonely on a bench,
and by chance, I had a glance,
of a poor person, but, not a common-*****.
A man he is, and he stands tall,
with black slick hair,
and muscles all.
I looked at him,
and he looked at me,
or so it seems.
The next day,
in the market streets
of Camelot.
We met,
face, to face.
Though it were a dream.
And seemed fair around us,
though that was not what it would seem.
We spoke, in the corridor,
to the church,
and we learned of each others lore
and kept close each others worth.
The Next day, by midnight,
as I slept in my bed,
He was there.
He knocked on my window,
and I invited him in,
with suspicion,
and lusting,
for my anticipations.
And he spoke to me
"I will return, Christine, dearest,
but I must embark, upon a quest,
to the neighboring town of Cornwallis,
to discuss neighboring policies,
and alliances.
By 3 days shall I return,
and should I not,
then my death will you learn
has come.
And so he came,
and so he went,
William his name
who's life not spent
walked gallantly mile after mile
to reclaim his fiance
and raise their child.


Continuing,
upon the walls
of Camelot,
their lies what they
might call a mote,
but it has been torn,
and it might be plagued,
explaining the lack of
crocodiles.

Knocking on the Gates,
of Camelot,
leads to a few strange noises,
one of them, being,
no noises,
as you hear
distant voices,
as if they were sleeping,
and you look up,
"The moon, of course!"
And so you climb the wall,
with a vine you found in the forests nearby.
And you stumble and mingle
with the vine wrapped
around your ankle.

Alas, your free,
You look up for the first time
within the boundaries of the city,
and find,
inscribed houses,
and minor commotions,
and by mere chance,
the sun arrives
though late, he seems,
and later he rises
the brilliance and the blare like a clock
starts the peasants up as flocks.
Love round the village clean and fair
and animals rolling in parks they share.
Where birds sit in pair-trees.
Where dogs chase cats for fun,
Where bees entertain the children free
Where parents admire the creation they've done.
And as you walk these streets
in wonder, and satisfaction,
You find that street
is layered in sparkles
and clouds of snow-white dust
that enhance the atmosphere
of this,
Haven,
so to speak.
Their, in the middle,
bewitches thine eye,
with all fantasies of this Earth,
and all beauties that have worth.
For in the center, lies a fountain,
which speaks 'Heaven' to your heart,
its marble is smooth as doves,
the presence of the fountain,
creates, or so you believe, the dark
mood around,
like a ominous breeze,
that is being blown away,
infinitely stretched,
like a monkey-chain of rubber bands,
the features of this fountain,
excite your mind with wonder,
enough wonder,
that makes your life feel whole,
though man has at least one worth,
should the world fail
and all prove evil,
then at least, they praise this devil.
The shape is but a breath-taker from
what could qualify, as a statue
for to lie in God's Plaza, or something
similar. The water spraying from the Queen,
Gaia, with a lively green vine,
my apologies,
that is pure and uncut emerald
that wraps around her hair,
which is so defined,
that you could give Gaia a new definition,
Perfection.
And from Gaia's hands, holding a vial,
comes out water, seeming longer,
and more endless then the nile.
And should you lean upon this,
architecture, of majesty,
unbearably beautiful,
and unquestionably
promising,
you'd see,
the mirroring,
of Heaven, the Stars,
and all the cold void within this reflection,
that miraculously could ever dare
to try that deception, in say, 4 feet length,
that mimics the unending of space,
time and infinity.
and,
you turning your head,
you see creatures,
though creatures they be,
they, if the fountain represented God,
then these creatures represent his Archangels.
As Swans float gently,
upon the water's tip,
and even Salmon, and other fishes below
are gray, silver, or diamond clear.
And the water their, remains,
untouched,
despite the audiences
of romantic teens,
adorable, and innocent children, laughing and playing in this pool,
and adults sitting by it, enjoying  their mate's company.
Inscribed in Gaia's vial, reads
"The Fountain of Youth".

But these fond memories no longer supply me,
with the passion and love of this Earth,
I once fondly knew,
for all, even the fountain is pillaged,
and two lovers that loved each other were hewed.

But pride, forgotten,
and beauty marred,
live forever,
in glory
and love.
Ma Cherie Jun 2016
I hear you whispering to me
            it's alright my child
     I know you want this to be over
                 I am right here
             I will always be right here
            don't give up you hear me?
   As long as you can still grasp a breath
                          you fight
      You breathe...so keep breathing.

          Your body...your soul
            may be fighting you
         It is older and has taken
     on many troubles and trauma
       but your spirit needs to stay
you have important work still to do here

        As they press on your throat
    Trying to check the last bit of air
      the Red tail Hawks Circle in the sky
                 we are here
               Do not be afraid

      You were born with white blood
        The ones who have dark blood
             are angry that it is
      still running through their veins
                are afraid of you
             Your light is so bright
           they fear getting burned

       Time may not be on your side
But you will know when the time is right
       you are the silvertip grizzly bear
   who smells from many miles away
who will rip flesh with your mighty    
            claws in seeming anger

                           His smell
seven times stronger than the Bloodhound
           your nose is a time traveler
      while they see someone's name
                            carved in
         a heart in the tree they will know
          this person loves someone else
            
       you know who made the carving
      what was on the soles of their feet
        what direction they walked in
   And to stay away if they are dangerous

        little Portia...jumping spider
        you can see in four dimensions
      Opening Our Eyes to history
as ancient Greek statues were painted
                        not white
         your evolutionary camouflage
     is useless against the death machine
          the black Emperor Scorpion
which to you glows in a bright blue green
      
you are also like the monarch butterfly
      
          waking from sleep cocooned
            living only a few months
      migration that spans Generations
born knowing exactly how to get to their  
           greatest grandfathers home
              who left six months ago
                not told by your Mother

You are the beautiful white bleeding heart
     that I planted outside your door
    you didn't know where it came from
  It will provide you ease from your pain    
           and calm  your nerves
      you must extract this from the root

         It all feels very important
             To speak the truth
             to get it all down
     It feels like it might be too late
                but it is not
   just remember to keep breathing
       As long as you have a breath
    as long as you can grasp a breath
                 you breathe
                 keep fighting
                     I am here
                 I am with you
           I will always be here.

Cherie Nolan© 2016
I don't know where all this is coming from part of my Native American studies things I am observing every day and trying to share when I can when I am able. Thank you for caring and reading I feel this is important for some reason so I guess I'll just keep writing and trying to read and absorb as much as I can of or creators work. The bleeding heart really is outside my door.... it might sound strange but I really feel that my native ancestors are speaking. :)
SHAKESPEARE'S MIND AND ART

In the memorable words of Ben Jonson,
Shakespeare, the great Bard of Avon,
"Is not of an age,
But for all time."
Endowed with a brilliant mind,
Worldwide knowledge and intuition,
He comprehends the changing trends
And creates enthralling situations.
With his amazing knowledge of man's nature,
Creates admirable, everlasting characters
Like Hamlet, Macbeth, Caesar and King Lear,
Rosalind, Miranda, Shylock and Portia.
Skilful blend of wit, irony and humour,
Youthful merriment, song and dance
As well as poignant scenes of sorrow and remorse.
Dialogues lively, powerful and spontaneous
Enrich all his comic and tragic scenes.
In his inimitable way, he describes -
How "..the poet's eye in a fine frenzy rolling
Doth glance from heaven to earth, from earth to heaven
And as imagination bodiesforth
The forms of things unknown,
The poet's pen turns to shape
And gives to airy nothing,
A local habitation and a name."
The world cherishes his poems and plays -
A perennial source of delight and solace.
                  
*   M. G.Narasimha Murthy
Hyderabad, India.
(Copyright: MGN)
Shakespeare passed away on 23 April 1616. This year marks the
400th anniversary of his death. This is a small tribute to the world's
greatest literary genius. M.G.N.Murthy
Gidgette Mar 2017
All these artists gather here on my floor
Three evenings
Poets, painters, musicians
Arguing, playing

I don't need streets of gold
The angels couldn't possibly make this music
Its weekend
And they gather

I'm a muse to many
So they say
A minority
My pitiful poetry and dance

But I dwell in these hills
With them
And my mahogany floors
Rests their shoes

Loud and melodous
Joey picks a tune and yells about fascism
Maria, sings her Spanish tunes
Stella laughs and dances our dance

Jimmy plays the strings to fire and ash
Chris beats the drums like an angry demon
Portia paints scenes that bring tears
Chloe makes her black and whites burst with every colour

They gather on my floors
I lay on the pillows and smile for them
With my liquor
They tell me I'm pretty

Catch my tears in mason jars
Moonshine passed between artists and lips
My house can't hold them all
We lack a banjo

Some "rap" some sing
Some write others paint
We all argue and fuss
Its a scene of crazy great



How I wish you all were here too
Last Saturday, portia and Joey left with black eyes and busted lips. Fighting in the yard over politics. Politics and anything to do with this subject have since been banned from my door. They gather here to sing and play for me this eve. How lucky am I?
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Portia Burton Oct 2021
Did I Cry? Why?

On waking up in the morning
I felt the smears of tears
across my cold cheeks,
with the gory image
of the last evening
of a sparrow killed
by the neighbour's cat
still burning my eyes.
'Did I cry? Why?'
I wondered aloud.
The walls replied,
'Because we could not.'

©Portia Burton
Portia Burton May 2017
The Girl in the mirror...

How the world got changed
In a mere moment!

Flower-like dreams got crushed
Under the sudden darkness,
And a tiny star
Twinkling with celestial music
Became lustreless and mute.

Tales of frolicking fairies
Lost their charm,
And the lips of the branches
Gently kissing a stream
Became totally numb.

Eyes knew for the first time
That they carried tears,
Sobs got arrested in the throat
Like the daisies strangled by weeds.

The girl in the mirror
Lost her smile.

© Portia Burton
This is dedicated to the innocent victims of Manchester.
Qualyxian Quest Jan 2019
Cordelia - integrity everywhere
Portia - nobility and care
Juliet - beyond compare
Ophelia - alas, suicidal despair

Anne Hathaway - what did she share?
Michael Rabutla Aug 2017
I love how we sugarcoat the struggle. It fits my fingers and decorates my wounds. Usually the Dog would lick them but this, this is too rosey. It's sunny on my soft hospital bed and I can hear the sound of medicine ringing in my ears.

The numbness caused by the dosage really disappoints my fans of the performance I put on when the drugs kick in. Allergic reactions to the drugs that look like a seizure so perfectly executed just so Portia can come to my rescue. She's the nurse with the beautiful *** and Warm chest. I'd like to thank the academy.

I know this feeling won't last forever. Least I'm not drunk again. Nostalgia's a ***** in this bed. My sorrows in the cigarette smoke was how I blew off steam. You knew I was fighting demons when I rolled the greens. I'd blow and blow some more to sharpen my senses. Wait, is that a six or a nine? Oops I didn't mean to jump the gun. The bullet missed my skull and Pierced my soul.


Stumbling through my recovery at least I got jack And Susan to help me. Sorry I meant Anxiety and I don't give a **** about your dying pet. That'll be anger.

Don't lose focus, back to my sunny hospital bed.
The effects of drugs and alcohol. Least I know what killed me. Of course you'll live longer than me. I inject my tight veins with boiling liquids, my twitching hands and bloodshot eyes dare not interrupt my fix. You on the other hand, Pizza and a Coke and call it a night. Huh. I'll race you to the death bed.  

Sit down and compute. The difference is that my fixes take longer to prepare so you can keep reading about standards and Choices but don't act concerned, this is not sophisticated.

Okay. I'm about to perform again. I'd like to thank the academy. Isn't sad that Portia isn't working today?

All my efforts gone to waste. Lord, My hospital bed is winter now and it's here to stay. I always knew I'd be buried with the winter. My souvenir to a warmer world.

Look at it however way you want, Roses with thorns or Thorns with roses. The ride has beautiful colours and thorny Grounds but most importantly, the ride ends.

I'm sorry, is this the part where I cry?
clmathew Oct 2021
~I walk down the street.
There is a deep hole in the sidewalk.
I fall in.

—Portia Nelson, "Autobiography in Five Short Chapters"

My own four experiences with holes
written October 5th, 2021

1.
I walk down a road
I fall into a hole
This happens a few times
I stop walking down roads.

2.
I get tired of being stuck in one place
I decide to try again.
I walk down a road
A different road than before
I know holes can happen
I keep my eyes on my feet
Just in case.

3.
I walk down roads
I carefully keep a list
of roads with holes
It is always in my mind
Is this a safe road?
Will it be safe today?

4.
I walk down a road with a friend
I forget to check if it's a safe road
We are talking and laughing
Then I realize
This is that very first road
the one with that big hole.

Did we not notice and walk around it?
Did we float over it?
Is the hole gone?
Will it come back?

So many questions.
All I really know is
I am grateful for
the moments of not worrying about holes
while laughing with a friend.
The outline of the original poem was in the back of my mind. All I remembered was the holes and eventually going around them. I wrote mine and then read the original. The original is pretty wonderful. I love analogies and this one just suited me for some of my experiences with ptsd triggers.
Euphie Dec 2018
Let's **** Caesar and call it a day.
Brutus is laughing and Mark Antony is crying.

Calpurnia cries and Portia rejoices.
The people sing and some weep.

Wow, what a great day it is to be a Roman.
one of the most sarcastic poems I ever wrote. Still makes me laugh.
Dave Robertson Jun 2021
Here’s my thinking:
Sir Kevan probably gave a decent plan
with solid foundations and associated cost
not loss
and all the Ricardians could see
was that it wasn’t all me, me, me
and so slashed away and thought:
those dumb enough to teach
can eat the **** sandwich
it’s not like they do anything that matters,
****** chattering classes,
now, how do we get them to do childcare
for the next six weeks
to stop the knived dead
and angry, apoplectic kids
and make sure their drone folks are on the lines
to feed our fat, fatcat selves?
I’m sure that Portia works for Ofsted...
Ryan O'Leary May 2019
There has got to be a more poetic
way to express one's infatuation
for her, other than saying that,
I am in love. She must have had
a lifetime of sensual suitors who
were seduced by her beauty. If
one were to take a page out of
Antonio's book, regard beyond
the enticing, of Portia's caskets,
it is there you'll find those grains
of flour, yeasted by her fondness.

                  <>

For Sheila Fitzpatrick
Owner of ABC Organic
Bakery English Market
City of Cork Ireland.
Ryan O'Leary Jul 2018
Re-vision
    Euro
  ( 2020 )

Mmmmm
Messi,
especially
when it
comes to
Dough
even
Ron-
Al-
Do.
Because
now he has
Turin over
to the Juve's
in Italie,
easier to
get a pound
of flesh !

Ask Portia.
joey Jan 2020
When did, ‘You can be
Anything’, become –
‘You must be everything’.

The mother, the provider, the
Teacher, the preacher
Of hopes and dreams for

Millennial babies. Their lot
In life cast only by themselves.
An epic of their own making.

9-5 then home again,
To dishes and husbands,
Both alike in tediousness

The warrior of sleepless
Nights, lost teeth, and
Abandoned dreams.

My mother was a Mosuo,
Her grandmother an Amazon,
Matriarchs of power

Who ruled as iron ladies.
Wooden spoons were
Their guns, and

Aprons their armour,
With a flint-like stare,
And perfectly curled hair,

They convened court in
Their sitting rooms with
Cups of tea and an intelligent

Eye; that told tales, tales
Of a proud matriarchal
Ancestry, a dynasty.

‘You are one of us,
Dear millennial baby,
A future queen whose

Kingdom will be your
Kitchen, a place where
No man dare step’.

I am not a feminist
Nor a suffragette or
A dictator. I am a

Millennial baby, and
My dreams are not aligned
With the ancestral stars.

I am a daughter and a
Sister, my voice is cast
From the silent mountains

Who rise like towers to the east,
To the drought stricken
Valley that grows more

Brown and crinkled with
Each day. Do you hear me
Now spirits of old?

You tell me to be a lawyer
So I will teach. My hopes
Do not align with your stars.

I am watched by
Eager eyes for the time
In which I may rise as queen.

Those eyes will be disappointed.
For millennial babies do not
Become queens. They are

A pair of ******* with legs,
To be gawked at by the peanut-
Crunching gallery of

Men. Men. Men. Those
Who reign in the bedroom
where their power is greatest.

‘You are Otrera. Esther.
Joan of Arc. You are Rosa Park,
Portia, Ophelia, Deborah’

Those matriarchs seem to
Say. ‘You are a matriarch,
Uphold our legacy!’
Charles Sturies Oct 2018
Winnie, I'll take you over Albert Finney.
You remind me of the city.
Kendall,your legs are nice.
They add just the right spice.
Tishtish, you don't even go tisk tisk
On your way to sheshe
Who doesn't go heehee
At all.
On a necessary ball.
Ramona, I know I'm not your Joe Bolona
And you can tell you don't have to use
The tona.
Georgia, I bet you remember Portia. Faces. Life
You're that right.
On and on.
Yeah my latest cluster.
Portia Burton Dec 2021
When I Decided to Love You...

When I decided to love you,
I first charted your sphere,
The orbit of your attractions,
Traced the tendrils of affection
Sprouting from your heart
To see where they finally reach,
Only to find encircled with them.
I then realized it was pertinent
That I should start loving myself
To be worthy of this adornment.

© Portia Burton
Portia Burton Oct 2022
October

The yonder hills look like
The birthday cake with green topping.
My eyes were swimming in the ocean
Of the sky's infinite blue.
Autumn golds are melding together
Sepia toned with a tint of brown,
Rustling leaves look like the lips
Of girls singing in a chorus.
There's our favorite coffee shop
Where our hearts will beat in 'mocha lattes'.
And, yes, as you say, this is HAPPINESS!

© Portia Burton
Portia Burton Dec 2021
Granny's Cottage

I am visiting my granny's cottage
Some time after her sad demise,
I hold my breath on the threshold
As her memories flood my mind.
Without going inside I can see
Each room of this tiny cottage:
The front room where she welcomed
Her friends, and even a stray goat.
Her table by the curtained window,
Where she raised her cup of tea
To the rising sun, and to the birch
Whose branches always waved to her.
Her kitchen where she always had
Something delicious only for me,
At least her dainty hand-made cheese.
Her husband's study which remained
Locked even for her darling me,
It was actually a treasured vault
Where the memories of the moments
Which she had shared only with him.
Then her room, her books, her bed,
Where as a child I slept in her arms,
As my mother also may have done,
Reaching for her face with tiny hands,
While drifting away to meet the fairies
On the wings of her magical stories.
And it was there our roles where reversed,
When I had to put her to some sleep,
As she clutched my hand like a child
To find some support while drowning
In the unbearable pain of her sickness,
And it was on that bed I had found her
Sleeping peacefully in the arms of death,
And as per her wish I had prepared for her
From her garden's flowers a clumsy wreath.

© Portia Burton

— The End —