Henrietta Tweedy 1886-1907

Henrietta Tweedy 1886 – 1907 I was always taught that good news puts fat on the bones. And I was taught by my strict Christian father That before honor comes true humility. I remember picking the Valencia’s one summer afternoon And hearing him say That the winners in life are the givers, And that a foolish man always despises his mother. And after services on Sundays, I can still remember all of us congregated In the sparse dining room There on California Street, Eating mother’s delectable starchy dinners With my father in white starched shirt Saying the “grace” before meals, And ending the prayer, saying: “A soothing tongue is a tree of life.” I loved life and I loved God. And that is all I can say Here in my lonely grave. Except, Roscoe Settle was a thief. He was the thief of my heart and of my soul. He was the only one for me. And I was the only one for him And that’s the God’s honest truth. We met on a Thursday evening at dusk in 1904 And his lips found my lips His blue gentle eyes healed my spiritual blindness Like Christ by the well When he met her, The thirsty woman from Samaria. And I saw him on the road to Montebello Heights that long ago day And little did I know it then, That would be the last time I was to see Roscoe Settle alive. Pray for me all kindred souls of the day. Pray for me as I set loose the atoms Of a million milliseconds of human time. Life demands nothing from us Except, To die. It is the ultimate act of humility. It is the ultimate act of final humanity. And I am truly honored now As the worms greedily gnaw Upon the fat of my bones.