THE POWER OF LOVE

 My mother, Blanche, and my daddy, Rondy, when they got married in 1939.

Spread love everywhere you go.

           --Mother Teresa

Far from the world,

at the Hawkins Cove during 1936,

cowbells ring in the pasture.

The sun rising like fire

over the Davy Mountain,

frost glitters like gems

in the pumpkin patch.

Chores never end on the farm.

Blanche feeds the Silkies

apple peelings and cornbread.

Alone in the coop,

she hums a hymn

and thinks about her beau.

The hens peck and preen,

she holds a chirping chick

stroking its fluffy feathers.

Gathering eggs from the nest,

Blanche carries them in a basket

Aunt Mae wove from river cane.

Trading at the country store,

she got staples, some cloth to make a dress,

and a tube of lipstick for her sisters.

Rondy is walking across Aquone

from the Civilian Conservation Corps.

On Saturday night, courting couples

hold a taffy pulling party;

a gilded weathervane twirls

on the old red barn.

                     --Brenda Kay Ledford