Thirty-three years ago I wrote a simple poem for an old friend (REALLY old, I thought at the time) for her 70th birthday. She has been gone for many years, but as I approach my own 70th year I remembered that poem and dug it out of my files. It was composed in longhand and then typed without the assistance of word processing. In those days I often wrote basic rhyming poems for birthdays. I am sure family and friends cringed inwardly when they got one! Here is the poem.
For Nettie…in her Seventieth Spring
Nettie,
Ms. Lynn, if you please,
is a friend of mine,
but hard to define.
A gentle soul,
courageous fighter;
giving much,
reaching out to touch.
I see in her past
glory and sorrow.
Yet she’s come through it all,
still standing tall.
She brings sunshine and hope
wherever she goes;
a reminder of giving,
a vision of living
Happy birthday to a
lovely lady!
3/3/83
Nettie Lynn was Jewish. Her family came to the United States from Russia. She had only one child, a daughter, who would have been about my age had she not died as a young child.
As I enter my 70th fall…I remember Nettie and look both ways…past and future…and embrace today.