Sweet Awakenings
by Joy L. Hale
Friday, January 13, 2012
Rated "G" by the Author.
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No love is quite as tragic as young love that ends without answers. The other day I was thinking about the young Naval officer I was in love with when I was eighteen, still naive and unexperienced, and these words came to me.... |
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Sweet Awakenings
Others had held me in their
Arms and kissed me...
Their wandering hands insistent
I couldn't relax with them
With Mother's cautionary words
Clanging through my head
Like the warning bell near the railroad
I remained wary of most caresses
But when you took me in your arms
It was different
You were not demanding, but gentle
Your kisses were tender, yet amorous
I felt safe and secure with you
No longer on guard, I allowed myself
To experience the first sweet stirrings of passion.
Your shore leave was up and
You had to return to your ship
The absense of your letters led
me to the wrong conclusion
How was I to know your
Letters were being hidden from
Me by my own family members?
The course of our time was
To be shortened, we reached an end
Before we really started. I was convinced to
Marry another, the better marriage said
My Mother and my brother.
The other man being my brother's best friend.
All was planned and orchestrated down
To the smallest detail
How could I have been so blind as to
Not see the manipulations that were afoot?
The well intentioned interference of family
Confused and distracted me
Sadly changing the course of our lives
Time and chance would dictate
That I would never know
Where you might have led me
On my path of sweet awakenings
Aaah.... The tantalizing mystery of it
I wonder to this day....
Joy L. Hale
Copywrite January 13th, 2012
All rights reserved
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| Reviewed by Andy Turner |
1/20/2012 |
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Such times we wish we could go back to the fork in road and look further down lane. Such is consigned to history. Man, I made a similar error. Yet out of this the Phoenix of wisdom rises.
Love is not the monopoly of youth, blind youth with hormones flying hither and tither. Ahead is a mystery whilst we bask in todays gift, the gift being known as the present. Such a gift only the wise who have learned through life are able to appreciate this rare gift.
Yet some gifts can deceive by the beautiful wrapping... |
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| Reviewed by Joyce Bell |
1/16/2012 |
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| JOY...SO MANY OF US GALS HAVE HIDDEN LOVES AND EXPERIENCES WE WILL NEVER SHARE WITH ANYONE FOR ONE REASON OR ANOTHER...SO, THANKS FOR FEELING 'FREE' AND OPEN ENOUGH SO AS TO SHARE SOME OF YOUR PAST WITH US IN SUCH A LOVELY WAY...ONE NEVER KNOWS, IT COULD HELP SOMEONE ELSE. LOVE, BLESSINGS AND FAITH...JOYCE * HIS INSPIRATIONS |
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| Reviewed by Steve Ralph |
1/16/2012 |
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perfect, absolutely perfect,a very sad tale well penned,
thank you
Steve |
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| Reviewed by Joy Hale |
1/16/2012 |
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Dear Fellow Poets,
This particular poem has received many inquires along with reviews. Let me set the record straight.I was young when this happened and did eventually divorce the husband my family so highly recommended. I wasn't in love with him, but cared for him. I bore him two wonderful children and for that I will never be sorry. I was single for many years and when I did accept my current husbands marriage proposal, I was 100% sure that this was the man I was meant to marry and spend my life with. I have enjoyed a 28 year long love affair with my wedded spouse; he is the love on my life and loves me dearly. As one reviewer pointed out, I am the person I am today for the choice I made long ago. I enjoyed being a Navy wife, the travel, the friends made, many are still active today and being able to persue my career in every duty station I lived in, culminating in opening my own school and teaching for many years. When my first husband had command of a squadron, I enjoyed the office of Commanding Officers Wife and served my duties well when the men were away from home and standing by my husband at all functions when they were home. My years provided me an education on life, people and the ways of other pilots from different countries while visiting the USA.
I live a different life now, a more slow paced and laid back life style which I also love, especially as I grow older. For 28 years I have felt loved, revered, respected and I now know what it means to grow old with someone... expecting the best years ahead of me.
I have been in touch with the young man of my past for over 10 years now; we were able to talk for many hours about that time and oddly enough, he blames himself for not getting leave to come to me when I stopped writing him because I thought he no longer cared for me when I did not receive any letters from him. We are both happy with our spouses and enjoy talking together on the phone, with our mates joining in the conversation. Unusual? Definately, but that is how we conduct our lives with one another. His wife is one of my dearest friends, also unusual. They read my stories and my poetry. All is well that ends well.
Why I am I telling you this? Because the book I am writing is based on this story, along with many wild embellishments that come from my imagination. Story plots that never existed and an ending that will make your heart glow, will make for a tender, passionate well rounded good book.
That and the fact that I have enjoyed so many blissfully happy years with my second husband, many more years than I spent with my first husband. I have been and remain a totally contented woman.
Joy L. Hale |
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| Reviewed by Linda Hill |
1/16/2012 |
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Joy,
This is one of the situations when we always wonder WHAT IF. What if my family hadn't interfered in your life how different would life be for you today. So sad that all you have is thoughts of what may have been.
Many Blessings,
~Linda |
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| Reviewed by Regis Auffray |
1/15/2012 |
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So called "well-meaning" people often do much harm. This is a touching and meaningful sharing, Joy. Thank you. Love and best wishes to you,
Regis |
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| Reviewed by Morgan Merriweather |
1/15/2012 |
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| touching and a wonderfully written memoir. ~ Morgan |
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| Reviewed by La Belle Rouge Poetess Of The Heart |
1/14/2012 |
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| So sad. A beautiful poem memoir. |
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| Reviewed by richard cederberg |
1/14/2012 |
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| A sweet (indeed) remembrance, tenderly and understandably wrought. peace ... richard |
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| Reviewed by Vivian Dawson |
1/14/2012 |
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"What If" being such a huge question,
and *Lady Joy* your poem certainly
expresses our desires for answers...
But are we not where we should be,
a culmination of all roads taken,
especially...
being from the very "Cherished Ones"
You, my dear, are the better for it,
let not your heart be troubled, but blessed!!
Lady Vivian |
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| Reviewed by Richard King |
1/14/2012 |
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Joy, I've been working on a poem that's been sitting there for quite a spell and may never come to fruition, but one of the verses is..... "What could'a been would'a been, if it should'a been, but for the road not taken and the unanswered prayer."
I'm not entirely sure why that came to mind, but it seems to address the very subject of your wonderful poem, well sort of anyway,,,, We all have those Y's in our roads, if we've lived a full life and certainly that's preferential to the alternative. Don't you think?
Great writing girl, glad you took the time to post it. Thanks Dick
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| Reviewed by Christine Tsen |
1/14/2012 |
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Oh, wonderful poem Joy!
Honestly I feel this poem deeply, because when we are young if we turn from the truth our vitality slips underground, our heads affix "closure" and gloss right on to the next part of life, but our hearts do no such thing.
Blessings,
Christine |
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| Reviewed by Mark Lichterman |
1/13/2012 |
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We each have those "what if" thoughts of that one person that remains within our minds throughout our lives. The saddest part of your "Sweet Awakenings" is that others dictated the direction in which you were to go. Though, actually, at your age then you may not have had anyplace other to go. I still have "what if" thoughts of that one "what if" girl after fifty years.
Sweet, lovable poem, my friend.
Mark |
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| Reviewed by Christine Alwin |
1/13/2012 |
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Impressionable moments are never forgotten...the what if's can be haunting...heartfelt~
Christine |
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| Reviewed by Mary Ann Biddinger |
1/13/2012 |
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"Sweet Awakenings" a pleasant realm in which
to marvel of that special someone.
Very eloquently expressed ~ Joy ~
Lady Mary Ann |
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| Reviewed by Jerry Bolton |
1/13/2012 |
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| He probably thinks of you, but not with the same yearning.That is if your family interfered and you took their side, he was probably hurt. Of course I'm talking without knowing everything, but the way your poem read . . . |
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