Last Will and Testament---- for Betsy
On this seventeenth day of November in the year
nineteen hundred and ninety two, in the time of our Lord,
I bequeth to you, my only daughter Elizabeth, my dearest
possession, the one thing worthy enough to be passed down.
It is nothing as ordinary as your grandmother's recipe for date
nut bread or the secret of using vinegar water and old newspaper
to make windows sparkle. If life had been different
I would have told you less often of how it matters
to comb your hair to the left, that blue best
compliments your skin tone or what to say to boys.
It is part of being a mother to tell you of the little ways
to get through morning on into the night.
But, there is more to it than that. If I had thought better of it
I would have left you my love of language sooner.
I wish I'd read poetry to you each and every day until its rhythm
was one with your heartbeat and pulse-the way it is with me.
I should have impressed upon you its extreme importance.
On this day, contemplating my final day, I can only present you,
my dear child, with this page, tied in a red ribbon
like a loaf of prize-winning bread.
Here-take it. Hold it close to your soft cheek. It is poetry.
Feel the power of the phrases and claim them as your own.
They are all I can hope to pass on to you. Words are your inheritance;
use them well. Know that I tell you this being of sound mind
and wish you the best that the wonder of the written
word can provide. Know that I tried to love you well.
Amy Crane Johnson*******************
RL
If you have a request for a certain Poet, post their name in the thread and I will find a poem by them and post it...
if you want to see some of my poetry, see the blog at:
http://www.myspace.com/retropaul
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