Last Request

I have spent the Thanksgiving weekend with my 88-year old mother. Fortunately, she still does well cognitively, though her short term memory gives her a bit of trouble at times. We were talking about her sister, who suffered from dementia in her final years, and I came away thinking about what a gift we give to loved ones now passed on when we remember them at their best. I hope my kids will do that for me!

Last Request

©2015 Susan Noyes Anderson

If ever in my final, fading years

the essence of me drifts too far away…

if I am lost as reason disappears,

hold me in memory until the day

when body stills at last and spirit flies

to make a home in brighter, bluer skies.

Once I have gone, reflect on glory days…

those days when tongue was quick and eyes were clear.

Forget the wandering mind, the vacant gaze.

Recall the love and laughter; draw me near

in every vibrant color that was mine.

Let go the vestiges of my decline.

Reclaim me in your heart; preserve for me

the self I yearn to leave as legacy.

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The Cause of Freedom

The Cause of Freedom

©2015 Susan Noyes Anderson

The parched soil drinks their holy blood.

They lay their bodies down like wine:

last dregs of fleeing innocence,

surrendered on the sacred vine.

With colors flying in the breeze,

stout poppies stand in full array.

Brined roots draw horror from the ground,

releasing it to light of day.

The horror and the loss, the loss.

Destruction never counts the cost.

Freedom remains an aching need.

The soul and body bleed. They bleed.

∞§∞

On this and every Veteran's Day, my heart is filled with gratitude for 

all who have placed themselves in harm's way to serve the cause of freedom.

The origin of the red Flanders poppy as a modern-day symbol of remembrance 

was the inspiration of an American woman, Miss Moina Michael.

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