Gayle Walters 1st grade photo
Only six years old,
there’s still hope
in those pure eyes.
The smile is genuine,
accessorized by dimples.
There’s a semblance
of safety that’s still
being met. Fear and
panic has yet to set a
pathway through
my neurons. Only six,
there’s still hope.
Lillian is our host for our Quadrille prompt over at dVerse Poets. Come join the fun with one of most popular prompts, to write a poem in 44 words.
Posted by Bodhirose on July 31, 2016
https://bodhirose.wordpress.com/2016/07/31/still-hope/
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Victoria Young
/ July 31, 2016What a beautiful girl. So sad someone could instill fear and panic in that precious being but I know they can. Beautiful poem!
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Bodhirose
/ August 1, 2016Thank you, Victoria, I’m glad you liked this.
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Victoria C. Slotto
/ July 31, 2016Ah. I see you as a hope-filled person, Gayle.
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Bodhirose
/ August 1, 2016Yes, you’re right, Victoria…there is still hope yet.
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Renee Espriu
/ August 1, 2016Cute kid in that photo, for sure. Love those thoughts. I sent you an email with a question if you could take a moment. It concerns one of my submissions.
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Bodhirose
/ August 1, 2016Thanks, Renee…I sent you a response this afternoon.
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Renee Espriu
/ August 1, 2016Got your response. Posted a piece with some of my art. Thanks!
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Grace
/ August 1, 2016A very sweet photo of you Gayle with your dimples and innocent eyes. Indeed, life is filled with safety and hope.
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Bodhirose
/ August 1, 2016Thank you, Grace… and you’re right, life is filled with safety and hope.
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lillian
/ August 1, 2016The innocence of six. Epecially love the Peter Pan collar — my six year old class picture, sitting at a little desk in my uniform with this exact same collar! You were a cutie indeed! Hopefully today’s children feel the same safety and hope — if we can keep the devices out of their hands and monitor their news intake — I think it must be tougher now?
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Bodhirose
/ August 1, 2016Peter Pan colors were big in the 50s and as I recall, in the 60s too. It’s funny, Lillian, but I still remember that outfit. Our school also took a classroom photo of us and I have my second grade and sixth grade photos of those…black and white of course. 🙂
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ladyleemanila
/ August 1, 2016you’re so cute! and yes, hope is there! 🙂
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Bodhirose
/ August 1, 2016Oh, thanks, LadyLee…yes hope is there! 🙂
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p.s.
/ August 1, 2016This is excellent and hits me way too deep.
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Bodhirose
/ August 1, 2016Thanks very much, p.s., hits me deep too…
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petrujviljoen
/ August 1, 2016To tell the honest truth this is breaking my heart. Having gotten to know you through reading your work, the survivor was evident then already!
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Bodhirose
/ August 1, 2016Oh no, I’m sorry for your breaking heart, Petru, but you’re right…I was in survival mode even then. It’s carried me through a lot.
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petrujviljoen
/ August 2, 2016hoo boy!
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bkmackenzie
/ August 1, 2016what a precious photo and the innocence of childhood still smiling with hope…your poem expresses your inner child and the layers place upon it through the years…bkm
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Bodhirose
/ August 1, 2016I love that photo of me smiling so brightly…there was hope and there still is today. Thanks, bkm.
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Glenn Buttkus
/ August 1, 2016At six, you looked like a young Elizabeth Taylor. At six, I was garrulous & inquisitive–hope appeared at twelve. Still, my six year old still controls my sense of wonder about life.
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Bodhirose
/ August 1, 2016Ha! Well, thanks for the compliment to my six year old little self, Glenn. I love that you were garrulous and inquisitive as a child and that child is still present within you today.
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Ayala
/ August 1, 2016Sad ! A sweet little girl.
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Bodhirose
/ August 1, 2016Hi Ayala, nice to see you here. Yes, some sadness but look at that face…there was happiness too! 🙂
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Charley
/ August 1, 2016Your poet’s voice cries softly through your carefully chosen words. Hope then, repeated, leads the reader to the underlying truth… if not no hope, then hope is fainter, more distant, and harder to hold. You have us in your hand in this poem.
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Bodhirose
/ August 1, 2016Thanks for this, Charley. Yes, the hope came and went through the years…maybe that’s the way it is for everyone.
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Charley
/ August 2, 2016Yeah, I guess so. I’ve spent a quite a few years producing hope… to keep from giving up and giving in. It’s paid off. I have a wonderful wife, am in a wonderful place, and have a wonderful dog welded to my hip as I type this! Oh, and I have chocolate! Does it get any better than that?
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Bodhirose
/ August 2, 2016I don’t think it does…that’s wonderful. 🙂
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jillys2016
/ August 1, 2016Aw! Great picture! I read through this several times and let the words skip like a little girl across my mind. This is so well done, Rose!
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Bodhirose
/ August 1, 2016Glad you enjoyed this, Jilly…thanks for coming by!
Gayle ~
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kanzensakura
/ August 1, 2016Your face and eyes and smile have changed little in these years. You still shine forth hope. And you have survived and shared that hope with your children and grandchild.
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Bodhirose
/ August 1, 2016Oh thanks for that, Toni…very sweet. That is my greatest accomplishment…those girls and that granddaughter…gives me lots of hope. 🙂
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Arcadia Maria
/ August 1, 2016Oh to be six again and ignorant of the world’s dangers. Well done.
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Bodhirose
/ August 1, 2016So true! Thank you, Arcadia.
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Walter J. Wojtanik
/ August 1, 2016I’d have to think about my life at six. But yours sounds like the perfect stepping stone to the you we’re coming to know! Well done, Gayle!
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Bodhirose
/ August 1, 2016Yes, it was the perfect stepping stone, Walt. it brought me to the person I am today…thank you!
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Sherry Blue Sky
/ August 1, 2016At six – and sixty – we can help ourselves to all the hope we need………..I loved this, Gayle, and adore the photo – such happiness and sweetness in that face.
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Bodhirose
/ August 1, 2016Thanks so much, Sherry…I do love that happy face!
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Dr. Crystal Howe
/ August 2, 2016This is touching and sad at the same time. Maybe I’m reading too much into it, but hope the hope is not gone now.
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Bodhirose
/ August 4, 2016The hope came and went through the years but is mostly present…it’s a process. Thanks, Crystal.
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Sumana Roy
/ August 2, 2016love the cute photo of you Gayle, totally happiness made…the lines speaking of paths yet to be known make the poem riveting…
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Bodhirose
/ August 4, 2016Thanks, Sumana…yes, many paths ahead of me at that time.
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kim881
/ August 2, 2016I love the way you have gone back to your six-year-old self, Gayle, with everything still ahead, and that quite dark undertone:
‘Fear and
panic has yet to set a
pathway through
my neurons’.
anchors you to experience.
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Bodhirose
/ August 4, 2016I was a very sensitive child and our home life was a lot for me to handle but I made it through and persevered. Thanks, Kim.
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georgeplace2013
/ August 2, 2016I recognize those bangs. Did we have the same Mom? I resonate with those last five lines. This is a revealing portrait.
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Bodhirose
/ August 4, 2016Haha…maybe we did, Debi. I think they were fashioned after Mamie Eisenhower’s look! Thanks, Debi.
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Rosemary Nissen-Wade
/ August 2, 2016Hope and joy, by the look of that lovely little face!
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Bodhirose
/ August 4, 2016I know…it does look joyful doesn’t it. 🙂
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Imelda
/ August 2, 2016Beautiful poem. It’s sad that at a young age, children start to fear and to worry. I hope that child still has her bedimpled smile and hope. 🙂
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Bodhirose
/ August 4, 2016Thank you, Imelda. It is sad. I would hope that all children could feel safe and loved and free from fear. I still have those dimples…and yes, hope too. 🙂
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Imelda
/ August 6, 2016That’s nice to hear. Have them forever. 🙂
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katiemiafrederick
/ August 2, 2016It’s Funny.. but really it’s
not funny how much in school
we tend learn the logical SonG
but forget it seems so much more
now than ever before.. iN the Art of HeARt..
i remember the SMiLInG eYes oF i as child
too.. and it was greAT thaT i had a photo of
those eYes before adulterated
by the logical SonG..
and even science shows
noW in Oh God.. duh ways.. that
when systemizing mechanical reasoning
cognition is used over social empathic
creative artistic ways of moving..
connecting.. and creating
intelligence(s).. iT iS as
iF the brain
has two pipes..
one gets clogged
uP and the Love
Leaves the
house
oF NOW aS
Being HUman heArt..
iT’s trUly science and
heArt too.. the HeArt is an
EmotioNal Muscle thaT liVes
from head to toe.. to use it is to
make iT Strong.. Reslient.. and sMiLinG
LiGhts of eYes and aLL oF Body Language
courAge iN Fearless LiGht oF Love…
Standard IQ.. mostly an invention
of a few centuries now.. a poison
pILL to the HearT of Love
and thaT Pill continues
to GroW unTiL
the throat
oF
Love no
Longer Breathes
a SonG of HeART
aS SpiRit eXpReSSinG
a little child’s natural propensity..
to move.. connect.. and create.. hand
in hand forAginG ToGetHer for the
meal aT hand thAT iS SaME
aS LoVe..
mY FriEnd..
the ChILd of mY
eYes iS back simply
’cause i murdered my
Standard IQ.. as much
as i could.. hehe.. but rears
it’S ugly head.. as thaT is what
18 or 19 years of school WiLL
do as snaKe over hUman HeARt..
along with decades of government
work and all the work before thAT..
i write poeTry to maKe the Muscle
thaT reALLy counts breathe Brighter
liGht than ever beFore.. sAMe WiTh DancE..
mY FriEnd.. to work out the GreATest Muscle oF aLL..
IS A Tower oF Love iN MoVinG.. ConnEcTing.. cREaTinG noW..:)
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Bodhirose
/ August 4, 2016I do agree that there is much about our society that squashes the creativity and joy out of our hearts and intellects. Schools try to fit us all into very rigid molds giving no leeway for being an individual…it seems to be all about control. I could go into a long rant here but I won’t… Thanks for your thoughts here, Frederick. 🙂
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katiemiafrederick
/ August 4, 2016Thank you for your
Thoughts and the very
Inspirational poem as well..
My FriEnd Bodhirose..:)
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freyathewriter
/ August 2, 2016Oh to regain that innocence!
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Bodhirose
/ August 2, 2016Yes…such a tender, sweet age.
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Mish
/ August 2, 2016So much joy and sparkle in those eyes. Hope can falter and fade but no one can take it away completely.
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Bodhirose
/ August 2, 2016I think you’re right, Mish.
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Josslyn Rae Turner
/ August 2, 2016Six is such an innocent age.
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Bodhirose
/ August 2, 2016It is.
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Josslyn Rae Turner
/ August 2, 2016🙂
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