Near the willows by the brook:
There is where as a child I used to play
With children from my neighbourhood,
When everything was magic, and so gay:
Those are the days I miss the most:
As sweet as grandma's jam on toast!
When I envision that little brook
That flowed in front of our house,
I can almost feel the water with a look…
A fairy tale was grandma's house!
If only I could turn just for one day,
To live that magic once again…
On vast pastures fresh and green,
With sheep and lambs, me and my sister,
Sometimes in summer finding thrill
In chasing lizards with wood-sticks;
Or wearing Mother's dresses, ruffled hair,
High heels and lipstick: to tell, we could not dare!
Upon honeysuckle for hours we could lie,
Eating wild-berries, rosehips, or cherries,
Giggling and laughing, staring at the sky,
When young we were at heart and merry…
Oh! These precious little moments never last:
The house seems smaller now, and all is past.
That last line - THE HOUSE SEEMS SMALLER NOW, AND ALL IS PAST - is so bitter-sweet. It really hurts the heart to read something like this poem, but it's a good kind of hurt. because it reminds us of things that are truly important and will encourage us to look for their replacement wherever we are at the moment. I mean, for example, the speaker could give toast and jam to her young nieces and watch them enjoy the same occasion she once enjoyed.I love the title image - willows and water belong together. There's a stand of three great willows near my new apartment, but they're a new car parking lot, surrounded by steel instead of water. I think they're weeping willows.
Those are the days I miss the most, but remember back while reading this beautiful poem. Nice work.
Great thoughts and composition. Evocative memories from your past communicated to us, your readers. Allowing your readers to wander back into their own past.
Tender memories of your wonderful childhood beautifully written with the magic of playing with your friends in a idyllic rural setting and the great love you have for your grandma! Beautiful write!
OMG! Your words bring such a warm and wonderful feeling of reminiscence... childhood revisited... and its magic renewed... Thank you for the visit!
Nostalgic longings of childhood days ! The poem casts a deep spell as your longings are everyone's longings too... I think most of us pine for those beautiful early days of fun and frolic.. As you had your grandma, there may be an inspiring figure for many of us! Giggling and laughing, I too was with you near the willows by the brook! Enjoyed!
THE HOUSE SEEMS SMALLER NOW, AND ALL IS PAST. That is a perfect line to end your poem. Those four words - all one syllable - slow down my reading and ring like a knell. But that closing doesn't dispel the fresh and vivid images of the delights of childhood enhanced by your (and my) grandmother, I did not have to make any mental translation of your poem; it resonated perfectly with my memories of my maternal grandmother. Except for the difference between our genders, we had similar experiences enriched by them. And I'm sure my twin sister would also feel this from your poem. The formal pattern and carefully chosen vocabulary are just right for this poem of memory, and create an ambience of safety, comfort and calm. Well, maybe not calm considering we were children.
This poem has not been translated into any other language yet.
I would like to translate this poem
Very pleasant to the heart this poem is with delightful rhyme