By Gypsie-Ami Offenbacher-Ferris
In a small town in the back
country of Arkansas
On an even smaller country farm
a girl child was born
Third in the family
second girl child
With the eldest a sister
the next was a boy
Her parents were farmers
with chickens and pigs
Growing parcels of cotton
some corn and a horse
This horse was a mean one
biting human and fowl
His end came the day he bit
my grandpa as he plowed
Only one baby more
was born after the third
Another tiny girl child
making three girls and a boy
The second baby girl born
September 19, 1936
became this ladies mother
a mere twenty-one years after
It’s been twenty-five years
since that second girl child
departed this Earth to reside
with her family on a faraway farm
When it’s my turn to depart this Earth
leaving behind the living to continue
I hope to follow the path that they took and see them all on the farm again
____________________________
Post-Note – I post these pictures to show what a lifetime of cigarette addiction looks like. My mother died young, age 57. I’m 64, an age she never saw.
Gypsie’s Wonderful World of Words 
It’s very sad, my mother is addicted and though her health suffers she just can’t stop
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❤️❤️❤️
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How sad and moving, Ami! The perils of smoking were not well known then.
She looked so lovely at 13.
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Thank you Punam (18 in the first picture). ❤️
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You are welcome.❤️ I am sorry that was a mistake.
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No worries! 😊
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Smoking has taken many lives which could have been a source of joy for their families. Thanks for sharing this heartbreaking story! And for joining in Ami.
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Thank you Sadje. Apologies – was it your prompt? I’ll correct it.
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