00:02I've loved poetry all my life. We had a lovely English teacher. She was a very scary looking
00:10woman with frizzy brown hair and round glasses. But she was the nicest woman and she was brilliant
00:18at helping us understand, you know, sometimes complex poems and she would relate it to our
00:27emotions in our lives. And of course it all just began to make absolute sense. I've lost both my
00:34parents and I had two sisters and I've lost them as well so I do feel a little bit lost
00:41because I
00:42feel I've lost, you know, that family. It's very sad but I comfort myself in the memory that I had
00:53such kindness given to me. I had such good parents who were really encouraging, kind and I had two
01:01lovely sisters and when I was a baby and when I was growing up they were like mums to me,
01:07you know,
01:08so I had three mothers not just one. I could talk to my sisters in a way that I don't
01:14talk to friends.
01:15It's a different thing. When my parents were both dying we shared, you know, that thing we comforted
01:23each other and so I had that and that's gone now and I miss them a lot. The poem I've
01:31chosen is called
01:32Recuerdo which I believe is a Spanish word meaning remembrance or remembering and it's about someone
01:40remembering an amazing time, a relationship with someone, love, fun, rain. Recuerdo by Edna St. Vincent Miele
01:53We were very tired. We were very merry. We had gone back and forth all night on the ferry.
02:02It was bare and bright and smelled like a stable.
02:10But we looked into a fire. We leaned across the table. We lay on a hilltop underneath the moon
02:20and the whistles kept blowing and the dawn came soon.
02:26We were very tired. We were very merry. We had gone back and forth all night on the ferry.
02:37And you ate an apple and I ate a pear. From a dozen of each we had bought somewhere.
02:46And the sky went there. And the sky went one and the wind came cold. And the sun rose,
02:53dripping a bucket full of gold.
02:58We were very tired. We were very merry. We had gone back and forth all night on the ferry.
03:08We hailed, good morrow mother, to a shawl covered head.
03:16And bought a morning paper, which neither of us read. And she wept, God bless you,
03:24for the apples and pears. And we gave her all our money, but our subway fares.
03:36I love it. I just love the fact that she suddenly says, you ate an apple and I ate a
03:42pear.
03:43Why would you remember that? But she does. There's a reason. Because it was special.
03:49They were in a special place at a special time. And I like that. Well, I think we've got
03:56such good memories, such happy memories. Yes, of course, I've got a huge sadness
04:01about losing all my family now. But I've got such happy memories of times that we had together.
04:08And so when I get really sad and a bit down, I try and go back to those memories and
04:15say to myself,
04:17you were lucky. It's in the word. Celebrate. Celebration day. Pour yourself a glass of whatever
04:23you drink, be it alcoholic or not, and raise a glass to that person and say, thank you for
04:29all the happy memories you've given me, all the life you've given me. My mum used to have a saying,
04:36never say you can't, always say you can, and you will.
04:41Amen.
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