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Carolyn Devonshire Poem
Each day Annie Lesley opened a can
Her eighty-six-year-old hands trembling
As she sat with her cat and ate pet food
What is wrong with this elder’s rendering?
Pride swallowed to remain independent
Large, sunken eyes peered from her weathered face
Her late spouse a decorated hero
Annie’s lifestyle a national disgrace
More enlightened cultures all over the world
Have revered their seniors throughout history
Asians and Native Americans
Are just two who honor their ancestry
Polynesians, other Pacific tribes
Respect the wisdom that comes with age
Seniors are welcome in family homes
But here in the states they’re placed in a cage
Bone-thin Annie Lesley chose to be free
Amazing neighbors with her endurance
When social services tried to intervene
She fought with remarkable resilience
Old photos on walls told many great tales
But only purring Tibby was listening
Each morning she rose to care for her cat
Until the day that Tibby went missing
In tears she claimed he must have been poisoned
Though in cat years he was older than she
Each day she sat by the window, staring
Awaiting the homecoming of Tibby
She’d been abandoned by society
Lost in the world’s most “progressive” nation
For sacrificing her spouse in World War II
Annie received little compensation
This widowed war bride never had children
Her mate had met his fate in Normandy
Posthumous awards she dusted each day
Annie’s life was defined by loyalty
To a man and a cat who never came home
And the vigil she kept all alone
Ended quietly one warm summer night
When an angel came to take Annie home
With a can of cat food in hand when found
Annie had nothing else to eat in her house
This is the way a veteran’s wife died
And tear stains had blemished her faded blouse
Although seniors’ wisdom is heeded
In societies that grow from history
Too many like Annie lead lonely lives
Wisdom untapped, they die in poverty
Copyright © Carolyn Devonshire | Year Posted 2009
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Carolyn Devonshire Poem
A child of four suffers recurring dreams,
disturbing parents and siblings with screams.
When she awoke, always sore in one knee;
next to a birthmark, it throbbed painfully.
Night after night she feared going to bed.
What caused these nightmares that raged in her head?
Even when grown, the torment persisted,
so a therapist’s aid she enlisted.
“Hypnosis,” said he, “might offer some clues.
Why not try it? You’ve just bad dreams to lose.”
Once under, he guided her to a room --
here people’s lifetimes in books were entombed.
“Find one that is yours,” her counselor said.
Quickly she did, but before it was read,
she felt an ache, saw just a faint title.
The words, she thought, said “Alister Bridle.”
The hypnotic trance now suddenly broke;
puzzling questions “Mr. Bridle” evoked.
For many years she thought that was her name;
perhaps a past life had been filled with pain.
Who was this man? She simply had to know!
Seasons passed, summer suns made way for snow.
In Florida now, 1998,
she thought all the nightmares she had escaped.
But strange dreams always catch us by surprise --
when the lights grow dim, our minds fantasize.
Cloaked in velvet, she left her parents’ farm,
stealing away on a late autumn morn’.
To meet her love, she climbed on the carriage,
knowing her folks would forbid their marriage.
Warm-hued leaves carpeted the hillside road,
and her pulse beat fast; she’d soon join her beau.
She thought only of him; joy cast its smile,
but that’s when he called, “Alice, the bridle!”
The leather band broke and wrapped ‘round her knee.
To the ground she was pulled; her horse ran free.
She met death, but past-life dreams recycle,
and she’d never been “Alister Bridle.”
Copyright © Carolyn Devonshire | Year Posted 2009
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Carolyn Devonshire Poem
stairway to the stars
celestial light beckons me
no puddles overflow with tears
my life’s silent movie
reruns in my mind
not a loved one left behind
those I cherish
wait for me
lingering in paradise
below the Earth loses color
even the pyramids
Eiffel Tower
Broadway lights
fade
to those still confined in the worldly realm
no legacy I leave
just a kiss that carries
rapidly vanishing memories
my final farewell
*Written September 4, 2014, by Carolyn Devonshire
For Guatami’s “The Poet II – Poetry Contest”
Theme: Leave you a kiss
Copyright © Carolyn Devonshire | Year Posted 2014
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Carolyn Devonshire Poem
When my time is done and I am finally laid to rest
I don’t want to be recalled as one who lived life depressed
So as I wrote my will, I chose to leave an instruction
That laughing gas be inhaled by all those at the function
No mournful eulogies will a pastor have to invent
For my funeral will be held under a circus tent
When dozens of clowns emerge from the tiny Volkswagen
Reams of my silly limericks Bozo will be dragin’
And as they’re read aloud, family and friends who knew me best
Will say, “She had a sense of humor, this we can attest.”
Mimes will mimic me trying to write the world’s best novel
As my corpse hangs from the trapeze, surely they will marvel
Laughter will ensue as they shoot me from the cannon
Flying high in my demise across the great Grand Canyon
All the children will smile and there’ll be no tears allowed
So no one will ever remember me as a “dark cloud”
There are people who seem to take life way too seriously
When I meet my Maker, don’t view this as a tragedy
Dad called me his “happy girl,” so let me go out that way
I want to leave them laughing as I reach my judgment day
Date: Written March 26, 2011, entered in contest December 11, 2018
Contest Name: Make Me Actually LOL Poetry Contest
Sponsor: Nina Parmenter
Copyright © Carolyn Devonshire | Year Posted 2011
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Carolyn Devonshire Poem
Gullies scar brown earth
Hurricanes bring erosion
Of both soil and lives
Copyright © Carolyn Devonshire | Year Posted 2009
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Carolyn Devonshire Poem
I thought I had hooked the world’s largest grouper
After struggling for hours, I was still reeling
Refused help from a friend; I was a trooper
Somehow I found its resistance appealing
Hot sun on the Gulf had me in a stupor
And in my hands I started to lose feeling
It finally came into view just before dark
Was shocked to find a fifteen-foot tiger shark
He’d just been toying with me all afternoon
And he was more than half the size of my boat
I felt like a comic in a weird lampoon
My heart seemed to be rising up in my throat
Captain Ahab might have viewed this as a boon
But far too much weight did this tiger shark tote
He bolted, took off, stripped the line from my reel
And I had to cast elsewhere for my next meal
* For Thvia's "The One That Got Away" contest (True Story!)
Copyright © Carolyn Devonshire | Year Posted 2011
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Carolyn Devonshire Poem
The chair is her home, her universe now
It is all that her many years will allow
Helena’s elegant beauty once shone
Now her mind wanders a world of its own
Age has changed her body but not her heart
Many great stories she’d always impart
To the wide-eyed grandchild she admired so
A girl who has loved her since long ago
Tales of black velvet gowns in which she’d dance
Soft moonlit beaches where she found romance
Economic hardships that came to pass
The rise and the fall of each social class
Her hands and face are now weathered with age
Accounts of the past still flow from this sage
And though some repeat again and again
I still listen now, just as I did then
I’ve memorized these tales, her gifts to me
And always I’ll remain her devotee
It matters not that my name escapes her
Love from her eyes she can always confer
Grandma brushes fingers across my face
And whispers, “Beautiful,” as we embrace
Though I miss years when she knew me so well
I know in the past her memories dwell
My love for her lingers, it always will
I take comfort knowing she loves me still
Copyright © Carolyn Devonshire | Year Posted 2010
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Carolyn Devonshire Poem
Frothy waves stretch to kiss toes
Hikers plodding sandy coasts
Leaving imprints on the shore
Who journeyed here, perhaps this morn
As the orange orb created dawn
Summoning sun worshipers
Footprints far too large to fill
Descended down the shell-strewn hill
Then hugged the waves low tide
The retirement community
Sends scouts here daily just to see
If the sands of time still wait
Alas, they do, imprints remain
Sacrificed to sea again
When evening tide returns
Their legacies erased each day
Another scout, another age
Will surely cast its prints anew
Copyright © Carolyn Devonshire | Year Posted 2009
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Carolyn Devonshire Poem
My greatest wish is for humanity
Treating each other with civility
Regardless of each one’s ethnicity
All men should be treated with dignity
For when I hear of discrimination
It generates the greatest repulsion
And so as not to create confusion
Every religion deserves inclusion
Judging books by their covers can only bring
More hate, intolerance as hope takes wing
If we could learn to be more accepting
Bells of world peace would surely be chiming
So join me now in prayer for acceptance
And an end to widespread intolerance
Beyond war there will be a transcendence
Through God’s plan we’ll live in benevolence
*Entry for Kristen’s “If I had one wish” contest
By Carolyn Devonshire
(Thanks for reading. No comments needed. Will be away on vacation for the next
week and unable to return the favor. Have a wonderful Memorial Day holiday!)
Copyright © Carolyn Devonshire | Year Posted 2011
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Carolyn Devonshire Poem
In sandy dunes on my back I lie
Dreaming of warm beaches, blue sky
And a girl named Lorelei
On memories I fly
War seen from on high
I vow to try
Not to cry
As I
Die
Written November 5, 2019
For the Rhyming Nonet contest.
Copyright © Carolyn Devonshire | Year Posted 2019
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