Thursday, January 5, 2017

Yesterday's Sky






I am lonely for the sounds of yesterday
Wagon wheels rolling down a dirt road
Or that old gristmill in the distance
Grinding corn for many a wagon load

I listen with my heart and write it down
Everything is so special and worthy of
A story that lingers from yesterday
Is a life’s lesson with pride and love

I treasure that old run down barn
So many secrets and stories to tell
My yearning heart over flows
For these are the things I dwell

Upon that little hillside everyday
Where juicy strawberries grew
The echoes of small voices
Still sound so brand new

Or that forever old homeplace
Where silence was never heard
We were free as the wind that blew
And sailed high as any bird

Running through a green field
Playing ball on Sunday afternoon
Walking home from church
By the light of a full moon

Sitting on the front porch
On a hot summer’s night
Oh the joy of simple pleasures
Is never far from sight 

Sledding down a snowy hill
On a cold winter’s day
In one door and out the other
As childhood memories sway

Helping mama make quilts
Stitching every stitch in time
Windblown quilts on clotheslines
Blowing in early spring time

Those Christmas time memories
Awakens my heart with a song
They taught me the gift of giving
Love is the best gift I’ve ever known

We may not have had much
Of the finer things in the world
The many life lessons taught
Takes me back to that little girl

Still fresh as the morning dew
Old as my heart will allow
Like that old mule daddy used
In the spring he loved to plow

My muse is daily calling me
Down every hill and trail
It brings a world of comfort
There’s so many things to tell

Writing about my yesterdays
My inkpot will never run dry
They are planted in my heart
And still blue as yesterday’s sky

© Susie Swanson, 2016

10 comments:

  1. Very, very nice, Susie! You're a treasure trove of memories!

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  2. Susie, you took me home with this. These are things...not all exactly of course as our lives will have had differences but there are so may things I treasured then and still do. I loved reading your heart's though about them. This thoughts affected my own heart and I thank you.

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  3. Sweet memories, Susie! And you captured them very well in this poem.

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  4. Beautiful, Susie. So happy you are able to put pen to paper and give us these lovely memories. Hugs. Blessings. Prayers. Barb

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  5. Susie, I can't begin to tell you how your poetry take me back to another time in my own life. Those long ago days of simplicity. Blessings to you my dear friend. Hope you are feeling better and staying warm. xoxo,love , Susie

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  6. Susie, your poems and writings just go straight to my heart and then cause my eyes to mist over from remembering just about every thing you write about. Mom and I spent many hours sewing quilts on her old wooden quilting frame and out in the pastures and on the road banks picing the sweetest strawberries that anyone ever put in their mouths. We also picked Black berries and kept a sharp eye of our surroundings because there sometimes were snakes and of course the infamous Hornet's nests that we had to work around and leave a lot of big plump, juicy, and tasty berries hanging on the briars. I remember still the afternoon we were picking berries and I happened to glance around and there was a hornet's nest big as a washtub just a couple feet from I was picking.I bet there were hundreds if not thousands of hornets inside and I was not going to disturb them. Again thank you for touching so many of our hearts with your ritings. May God bless and cure all of you ills.

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  7. You are so right, Susie, they never grow old. Those memories hold us forever in gentle chains of love.

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  8. Love your poem, Susie. This is one of your best poems. I also miss the good old days. You've captured so well the way it was when we grew up here in the mountains. Stay warm.

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  9. I really like this poem, Susie. "We were free as the wind that blew"...I love that line. Coming over here and reading your stories brings back fond memories of my own childhood days. Both of our parents weren't wealthy, but they sure were rich in love, huh?

    ~Sheri

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  10. A beautiful telling , a lovely sharing ..enjoyed like a painting on the canvas of my heart and mind ..just found you blog today via Facebook , will so enjoy reading through past post ... from another Susie

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