Portrait from the time of World War I
from the collection of Sherlock77 (James)
“Mothers, Daughters, Wives”
by Judy Small
The first time it was fathers,
The last time it was sons
And in between our husbands
Marched away with drums and guns.
And we never thought to question.
We just went on with our lives.
Cause all they taught us who to be,
Was mothers, daughters, wives.
I can only just remember
The tears my mother shed
As we sat and read our papers
Through the lists and lists of dead.
And the gold frames held the photographs
That mothers kissed each night.
And the door frames held the shocked
And silent strangers from the fight.
Then it was twenty-one years later,
With children of my own.
The trumpets sounded once again,
And the soldier boys were gone.
And we drove their trucks and made their guns
And tended to their wounds.
And at night we kissed their photographs
And prayed for safe returns.
And after it was over
You had to learn again
To be just wives and mothers,
When you’d done the work of men.
So you worked to help the needy
And you never trod on toes.
And the photos on the pianos
Struck a happy family pose.
Then your daughters grew to women
And your little boys to men.
And you prayed that you were dreaming
When the call came up again.
But you proudly smiled and held your tears
As they bravely waved goodbye.
And the photos on the mantel pieces
Always made you cry.
And now you’re getting older
And in time the photos fade.
And in widowhood you sit back
And reflect on the parade.
Of the passing of your memories
As your daughters change their lives.
Seeing more to our existence
Than just mothers, daughters, wives.
For my daddy fought in World War II
and my husband was killed in ‘Nam
and now I watch that baby boy
marching off with drums and guns.
And I never thought to question
just went on with my life
for all that I was taught to be
was mother, daughter, wife.
But…times are changing!!!
This sculpture shows the sign for "connect"...and that is what Deaf Pagan Crossroads is all about - making connections. Connections between Deafhood and Paganism, connections between the Deaf Community and the Hearing Community, connections between myself as the writer and you as the reader. I hope you will take the time to read my various posts, some of which are listed below. Welcome to the Crossroads, and I hope you make some connections here!
yes indeed times are a changing cuz now daughters , sisters and wives are also marching off to war DAMMMM what a world when will the maddness end bb birch
Not to mention the many women all over the country who are standing up and demanding that our government bring our boys home!
Don’t get me wrong… I honor the soldiers who are fighting and the ones who have died, but it’s time to reunite those mothers with their sons, those daughters with their fathers, and those wives with their husbands.
True! See my vlog http://jehanne.wordpress.com/2007/05/27/stop-the-war-bush/
Thanks for your link, Jehanne!
The above vlog is a video clip of an ASL poem written and signed by one of our young vloggers, Jehanne. It is beautifully done. What makes it extra special is that if you watch carefully, you will notice that Jehanne uses the same basic handshape (an “5” handshape, much like an open hand) through-out the poem.
For those of you who are not skilled in ASL, I have taken the liberty of writing the English gloss for each of the signs, so you will have a basic understanding of what is being signed (Jehanne, I hope this is okay with you!):
mother father marry mother pregnant born baby son happy
grow-up school finish college call/summon war mother father frighten worry
war/battle die bring casket bury grave mother father sad
finish stop war B-U-S-H
Ocean, it is okay for you to translate to English!
As one who was against this war from the begining. I find this poem beautiful and sad. Lets push our represenitives in government to end this now so our brothers, sisters, sons, daughters and all our other loved ones can come home. This war is not about terrorists it is about oil. We would have distableized the entire area. If this were about terrorists we would have found them.
“The great masses of the people will more easily fall victims to a great lie than to a small lie”. – Hitler
This has been proven over and over. It amazes me that we keep falling for it.
The picture you posted is in really good condition!
Good blog, Ocean. Let us all honor the fallen today.
It’s a good poem. I hope that more women will stand up and demand an end to the slaughter.
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