Following her death in 1978, three small notebooks and a scrap
of wrapping paper were found among her personal possessions.
One notebook contained poetry she had written while she was
still a young woman, from 1914 to 1920. On the wrapping paper
was "Weeping Willow", her last poem written sometime after my
uncle Gene's death in an automobile accident in 1956.
Weeping Willow
In God's Green Acre there is peace at last;
The cares of the world and its fears are past.
The green sward carpets wee, scurrying feet,
And cradles the flowers with their incense sweet.
The bird's tumultuous voices swell
In hymns of praise, that all is well.
At night the stars in the heaven's above
Reach down and touch each mound with love.
In winter when stormy north winds blow
Comes a benediction of purest snow.
In this hallowed ground my dear son sleeps,
Above his grave the willow weeps.
Bernice Marie Phillipy Frederick (1898-1978)
You can find more of her poetry in the Review section
of my poem "Bernice".
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They knew you were the class poet of your high school
but they didn't read your poetry
until after you were gone.
To them, you were just "Mom".
It didn't occur to them
that they never really knew you
until it was too late.
Is this the way it is for everyone?
I'm just like you, Grandma.
One day, after I'm gone, they'll find the box of poems in my closet,
and they'll wonder how I could have written things like that.
And no one will be able to ask me what they meant.
Mark Sebring (2019)