The weeping willow is her room

     HER PARENTHESES

 

The weeping willow is her world

Where boughs form a room.

The golden coins scattered about

Are dandelions in bloom.

As I peer through curtained window

She’s lost in make-believe,

And I watch in fascination,

The stories she can weave.

With dolls and toys as audience,

She acts upon a stage,

Fulfilling all the sweet dreams

Expected of her age.

Just now, she’s Cinderella

Dancing at the ball,

As she wears my old satin gown,

And heels to make her tall.

But soon she is a Fairy Queen

With sequined wings of blue.

As she waves a small magic wand

Her wishes all come true.

And next she transforms to a Bride,

Who’s dressed with greatest care,

With curtain as a bridal veil,

And flowers in her hair.

Once again she changes modes

And breaks into sweet song,

Pretending she’s a great chanteus,                       

But it doesn’t last too long,

For now she is a perfect Mom.

With motherly concern,

She feeds her dolls and beds them down,

With a kiss for each in turn.

I’m quite engrossed in her pretense                     

As I watch her fantasize,

But scenes are quick to fade from sight,

When tears caress my eyes.

I wipe my eyes for better view

Of her parentheses,

And I am saddened then to find,

It’s all just memories. 

 

2/22/96        Phyllis DeWitt VanVleck

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If you ever wonder, think about this.

        NO GOD?

 

Sceptics say “There is no God”

They’re wrong, He’s everywhere

I need but open nature’s door

To see His wonders there

 

The velvet in a petaled rose

A butterfly’s bright hue

The sun’s warm rays upon my face

And sparkling drops of dew                                                     

A rainbow on a summer day      

A cooling mid-day rain         

Moonlight’s dusky golden glow

On earth’s great counterpane

Snow-capped mountains touching sky

With valley’s down below

An ocean with it’s white capped waves

And streams where willows grow

 

No God? With all this beauty

How foolish can they be

He’s ever present in our lives

How sad, they cannot see

 

11/20/99     Phyllis DeWitt VanVleck

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This is a true story about my granddaughter and a tree in our yard.

 

       TONI’S ROOM

 

Toni lost an old friend today

            But you may not think so

For it was just a willow tree

            With branches hanging low

The many limbs, so thick with leaves

            Were long and touched the grass

They formed a great big nature room

            With their huge shapely mass

To her, it was a special tree

            It was her hideaway

A castle, when she willed it so

            Her playhouse, every day

It had what looked like eyes to her

            Where branches were removed

It even wore a smiling mouth

            A boy’s sharp knife had grooved

So she talked to the willow tree

            As if it were a friend

She’s just a lonesome little girl

            And she loves to pretend

Whatever her moods might have been

            The tree room shared them all

For many hours were spent within

            From early spring to fall

And even in the winter months

            Into the room she’d go

Then it became her big igloo

            With branches wearing snow

Today there was an awful storm

            And lightning killed the tree

She wept in sadness at its death

            And then she said to me

I’m going to plant a tree someday

            And when it’s fully grown

There’ll be a nice big nature room

            For a child of my own

And I will share some memories

            In the shade of that tree

To tell her of the room I had

            And what it meant

 

 

3/17/89             Phyllis DeWitt VanVleck

 

Judge’s Special Mention … PAW (in Pa) 1991

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