For The One In Wales (Ode To A Lady)

[FlickerOfLight]

For The One In Wales (Ode To A Lady)


My sister –
you walked on this stone by yourself;
felt the pain of a whole world
and dared to make it a better place.
I compare you to a rose
late in the fall of the year
whose petals, though losing the will to live,
still reach for the gift the suns’ arms offer.
The memory of your untiring compassion
will not long be forgotten,
nor will we soon comprehend
the grief we feel for you.
I never knew you, but, like you,
I cried at the tragedies that were inflicted
upon this irreplaceable home to us all.
You did make a difference,
one that will not soon be forgotten;
if not in our minds and our memories,
then deep in our hearts.
In my heart, I will keep a small corner
a shrine to your ideals;
perpetuating a hope for us all
of a better earth and home
with a single red rose in mourning.


(Dedicated to the memory of Diana, Princess of Wales.)


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I wrote this on August 31st, 1997, when she was killed in an automobile accident.  Even though I am an American, I liked and respected her.  We were born a scant few months apart.

That is very beautiful. I've always found it fascinating that some people can create such a vivid image from words, the same way some do it with a paint brush, or a lump of clay.

You've done a great job at painting us that beautiful picture. 

I'm curious to a writers process of creating. When I sit down to do an art piece I never see the image completely in my mind at first. Usually it's one idea, or one line or color scheme I have in mind, and then the rest sort of just happens, and I always end up with something different than I had originally seen in my mind at the beginning. 

I wondered if this was the same for most writers. In your process you don't know the whole story until your writing it, right? You can see the story in its entirety until you're finished with it?

I had heard of people not knowing how they're story is going to end as they're writing it. That always seemed so nerve wrenching to me. Having built up this long tale and tapestry of words and ideas, and yet have no clue where you're going with it.

That's why I don't write. Ha

A very cool gift to have, Haarfager. Thanks for sharing it with us. I don't think we have many poets here. 

If we do, I encourage them to share more of it with us.

Cheers