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Sunday, January 19, 2014

MOUNT VERNON, et al

(written in 1978 on Spring Break with my friend Helena. We visited Mount Vernon and Gunston Hall both in Northern Virginia)
by Susan Fox


Helena and I
climb up towards
Martha and George;
crocuses peer at us
from newly unfrozen ground;
spring announcing the summer,
trumpets through the trees
and we are weeping for their lives together:

“A Victorian marriage,”
you say,
“with all its respect
and male prerogatives.”
In passing the master bedroom,
we wonder
       “Were they happy together?”

We stop giggling at the tomb;
the parents of our country
lie side-by-side
in death, if not in life;
the secret of their lives is buried there
and nothing is revealed to us.

Later, at Gunston Hall,
after a pony ride,
we would be ladies too,
strolling only on a manicured lawn,
wearing a long white dress,
sewing, writing,
waiting to be married.

Look out on the Chesapeake,
Helena, the wind brings in another sail,
and time beaches us at Mount Vernon
where we can forget our careers,
pretend to be girls, unburdened and genteel.

But we are not ladies, we are working women,
running through our lives
in heels, with notepads –
Only once do we glance back down the Potomac
to see what might have been:
two young girls, one dark, one blond
strolling through a formal garden
at ease in their own gentle living.

Helena in life there is only time,
if we can find it. 

The Potomac River 

3 comments:

  1. The Victorian Era, Was deep In a Thick, Rich, Heavy Gravy. (usually to cover up badly cooked food) It brings splendor and visually stimulating Ideals of Romance (Very good for a Wedding) if you can afford one like that. just exactly because of it's richness however, It brings with it The Excess Crap of a People who at the time, Were Quite Anti Catholic in their Belief system but trying a attempt to state they were catholic by attempting to bring traditions of their own into Their Daily lives...Sadly That would have included Slavery, Bigotry, Wrong Teachings, To have a Visual of these So called Good times, take a look at Gone with the wind. another film which came out about the same time which deals with Anti Semitism (a Real outcropping of the thought dead Error of Arianism already condemned by the Catholic church) Watch the Film "A Gentlemens Agreement" And Ask yourself this question, What World war had we just came out of. Put in the Background the warnings which came From Our Lady of Fatima and see if you can See Warnings coming from Men of Good Will though not exactly Orthodoxy and Orthopraxis. though it does hit pretty close to the mark. It would be a wise man (or woman) who took advantage of these Warning signs just like driving on a road people listen and obey warning signs, That a Period is coming which even was warned of prior to Fatima in the vision of St. John Bosco, For a opportunity for others who are not of the Catholic Faith To also Enter in to the Boat which Peter Steers because of the members Failing to protect and include Brothers and Sisters and are no more guilty or innocent then the same ones who were guilty of the same atrocities of events which happened less than 125 years ago. Time to get into a Larger Ark, Catholic Church, Rain is Falling and mother is calling Children to stop playing and get inside the house. Is this True and Factual? Probably not, Is it metaphorically Similar in the Extreme it is. and just may be similar enough to have those of the Errors of Solo Scriptoro and Solo Fideli to have their Errors used to Help them into Peter's Boat and out of the Waters they are Drowning in.

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  2. How are you doing Dan? Believe it or not you are on my prayer list because mutual friends in Arizona said you needed prayer!
    Yes, our country has anti-Catholic roots, and it is sad because I think anti-Catholicism leads to abortion, contraception, euthanasia, same sex marriage. I know our Protestant brothers and sisters in Christ don't approve of these things, but they don't understand that a tolerance for contraception (nowadays a form of abortion) leads to abortion and the rest! Reject Christ and his Church and you have this mess. Well thanks for reading my poem. God bless you. Susan Fox

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  3. This is another beautiful poem, for which I congratulate you and thank-you for sharing with us.

    Our poor protestant friends accepted divorce; this paved the way for society gradually, slowly, accepting a whole plethora of sins. It was inevitable; when private judgment was accepted on moral issues, everything goes. The command to teach was given to the Apostles and their successors - and only them.

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