After I posted “Shards and Sand” several days ago about our trip to the beaches of Normandy, so many of you responded with thoughts and memories about war and peace and humanity. Thank you.
In that post, I wrote, “Part of our duty as artists is to pass on tradition and preserve our cultural history in various formats, to express human emotion and help us all to feel hope and peace of mind.” My artist friend Pamela Ferguson, a wonderful poet and painter, sent this note with a poem she wrote which will speak to all of us.
“I was moved by your post/blog on Normandy, Lyn. I’ve been to France but not there. I can imagine the voices who whispered to you. I look forward to the art that comes from your experience. This poem wrote itself after I read your blog. I wanted to share it with you.”
Here is the poem, brilliantly composed by Pam from the point of view of a young soldier watching the incoming invasion. I superimposed the words on the photograph of a bunker at Pointe du Hoc in which he might well have been waiting.
Isn’t the power of artists inspiring each other amazing? I am so grateful to Pam for sharing this poem which I know will stay with each of you as is has with me, opening our minds and hearts.
The words are swirling around in my head. Very thought provoking and image producing. Thank you for sharing
Pamela is a wonderful poet.
Thanks, Sandra
Lyn, beautiful words and image. You are so inspiring ❤
Dorothy, thank you – you know words so well – they are your palette.
Pamela’s poem is beautiful; I read it several times. Indeed the power of art is amazing and powerful!
Your recent post on your trip was also so poignant, especially in light of your and Bill’s fathers being in France in the war. My parents met in an ammunition factory in Tennessee so didn’t see fighting, but like so many in the U.S., had a stake in the outcome.
Your post did make me reflect on a close family friend who passed last year at age 95. He was 18 when he found himself at Battle of the Bulge. How that must have affected him at a deep level. I believe he lived his life with a deep sense of gratitude–for his life, for his country, for his heroic comrades who fought at this terrible battle and who he kept in touch with til the end of his life. Despite his war experience, he lived with a great sense of joy, always.
Thank you once again Lyn for your thoughtful and and artful observations.
Becky, thank YOU for sharing that. Living with joy is such a gift –
That line says it all. Exactly how I feel about humans killing humans……
……’because I let myself follow the lure of another’s vision’…….Wow.
I agree – it is absolutely timeless. Thank you, Wilma.
Lyn, thank you for the beautiful posting of this poem. As always, you are generous and kind. Your support and opinion have always mattered so much to me. …onward and upward, right?
WOW! That poem is so powerful.
Thank you Lyn for sharing and your friend,Pam for writing such beautiful poem.
Jackie