Author: Gypsie-Ami Offenbacher-Ferris

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.

By Gypsie-Ami Offenbacher-Ferris

The Sunday Wordle #570
Hosted by bwarren 

Eyes that know no normal
No clue how to play the word game
Search the world over
Journeying further and longer each day

Time is a sweet healer
Or can rattle the strongest reserve
Using pills from a bottle
To escape the false gilded box

By Gypsie-Ami Offenbacher-Ferris

I know you no longer
this child of my womb
I remember it well
almost loosing you though

The blood started running
the pain beyond my endurance
I clutched at my round belly
I begged you to wait

My sister she drove me
as fast as was allowed
to the hospital where soon
an ultrasound could be done

She reached out and touched me
while speeding through stop-lights
people blowing their horns
She said to me that my baby was gone

I started to shake and tried not to cry
Would not believe the words that I heard
Clutched at my belly still swollen and hard
Knew in my heart my boy was still there

Nurses and doctors all handled me with care
kind blessings all around could be heard
Soon there were leads hooked onto my skin
listening intently for that heartbeat again

The thumping and whooshing made it so clear
my baby boys heart beating so strong
The doctor confirmed what I’d known all along
you there inside me tucked safely within

Now you are grown with a wife of your own
I know not this man who despises me so I wish for a moment I could hold you once more to hear the heart-song of this mother’s love for her son

By Gypsie-Ami Offenbacher-Ferris

Young neighbors burst
from their home
giggling in new love
and healthful exuberance
Friday night freedom

Teenagers spill out of their
parents dining rooms
appetites temporarily sated
school buddies converge
to watch girls watching them

Friends with grand plans
head for the marinas
golf courses galore
women gather for coffee
ending up at the mall

Watch their lives unfold
relationships come and go
from the chair where I sit
most days here alone
in my chair built for one

By Gypsie-Ami Offenbacher-Ferris

In response to Mindlovemisery’s Menagerie Story Swap #8 “SURVIVAL”

He wore flowing robes in white and blush rose. I had never seen such a beautiful color, not before or since. He walked slowly, His robes swirling around His bare feet. He looked as though He was skating on air, no sound did His tread make.

Entranced, I watched Him come closer. He smelled of ocean breezes and frosty mountain air. His eyes a deep chocolate, small crinkles at the edges spoke of laughter, worry, strife and redemption.

“You can not do this thing you contemplate My lady,” He spoke. His voice velvet soft, enveloped me in warmth and care.

“I called out for You. I cried for You. I begged, but You did not come. I have no desire to keep fighting, to keep struggling, to keep hurting,” I whispered.

“But yet, you must. You will My lady. You are the light they will follow. You are the strength that will be needed. Without you, all will be lost. Without you, I will be lost. Only you hold Me deep within your heart. Only you hold true love for Me within your soul. So you see, you must survive, you will survive. For Me,” He said softly.

“For You,” I echoed even softer.

By Gypsie-Ami Offenbacher-Ferris

Shadow dear shadow,
do you know from where
you’ve come?

Are you aware at all,
of where you will go
in the fall and in the winter?

Shadow dear shadow,
at blazing summers zenith
you stand full and tall.

Chasing suns rays
across a blue horizon,
flickering as clouds pass by.

Shadow dear shadow
how you dance in the wind,
dipping gracefully against the gale.

I will miss your quiet strength,
your testament to the hot season.
Until next year, farewell dear shadow.

By Gypsie-Ami Offenbacher-Ferris

In response to dVerse Poets Pub
Prosery Prompt Piece 144 Words
to include – “I’d like, too, to plant the sweet alyssum that smells like honey and peace.”

Walking the long winding path to the plot where my father lay. We stood hand in hand gazing
down at the flattened mound covered in soft green grass.

The breeze gentle, the sun warm but not hot
on our necks bent in reverence. The double tombstone bore his name, birth and death date.

The other side of the massive granite monolith was engraved with mother’s name and birthdate. The script upon the gleaming white stone sat in
silence awaiting the date of her death.

“Soon I will be laying here beside my love. I’d like, too, to plant the sweet alyssum that smells like honey and peace here above us.” We planted that very day.

I walk alone along the winding paths of the vast cemetery. A breeze lifts the hair from my neck, delivering the scent of sweet alyssum blossoms to my nose.

By Gypsie-Ami Offenbacher-Ferris

Trapped inside a cell
not of his own making.
A wife of many years,
successful children,
adored grand-children many.

Happy yet longing,
contentedly dissatisfied,
aching for something more,
searching to fill his soul-ache,
unknown light to fill the void.

A bright beam to lift away
the fog of ordinary.
The touch of one forbidden
yet loved and loving.
A gift to each and each other.
A balm for both, poison for one.

Discovery would ruin his world,
tailored to his liking,
the asset of his life-long work,
all gone, yet never adrift.
Still, he comes back for more.

By Gypsie-Ami Offenbacher-Ferris

It is with considerable regret
that I comprehend the wasted
journey of my youth

Unrivaled are the young
who have time to waste
tenacious are adolescent humans

Only the present has any significance
while their bones are agile
body’s able to climb

Smiling lips crack upward
at the site of bees in Spring
displaying glistening teeth

A face full of wonder
invincible expectations
ignoring the old woman rocking

Rocking, rocking, rocking,
Remembering with regret
the wasted journey of her youth

By Gypsie-Ami Offenbacher-Ferris

The mirror lies to me daily
each time I gaze into its glass
I see what should be me
but is not

Others see an aged woman
looking back at them
Body abused by the passage
of time

Thinking do they
as I did too at that age
I will never get like that
no not me

It happens quite quickly
this mirror image change
Perhaps not or I forgot to look
as years passed

Now I look in the mirror
and see someone else
that can’t be me
but it is – me