November 2004                                             The Megaphone                                                        Page 8

Life

by Shirley (Fite) Dellinger

Have you ever saw a young couple walking, holding hands and gazing into each others eyes? Sure you have. They think the world is perfect and if they get married it will be perfect also.  Then you see a  old couple, holding hands and looking into each others eyes and you know, they know ,all the things the young couple doesn't. And then you wonder just what the old couple has been through. It may be an old couple you know or ones that you don't, no matter, you will never know all the trials they have known or what it took to hold their marriage together. They know all the things the young couple doesn't and they know nothing is perfect. Will the young ones withstand the lost of one of their children or the long sickness of a family member? Will they survive the times when they don't know how they are going to pay their bills or the rent or buy food for their kids? I don't think the young people today has the staying power we do or our parents did. Women didn't work, except at home, where they had a full time job. The men didn't take a day off from their jobs because if they did maybe there wouldn't be food for the kids that week. My dad worked all his life until he wasn't able and then advised me not to wait until I had the money to do things because then I wouldn't have my health. I thought  he was wrong to think that. Oh, how wrong I was, just as our kids will be when we tell them things to guide them. They will think, yes mom we know all that and they know so little. We don't realize until we have children of our own just how very smart our parents was. I know now, I should have listened to them a lot more than I did. Oh I listened, especially to my dad, as my mom and I wasn't that close. Oh what I would give to have a few years to live over. I would listen more and talk less. I would listen to dad reminisce about the old times and the family. We don't know  this until we are older and  then it is too late to do anything about it. I guess this article about sums it up. The author is unknown.

The question asked, "Is there anything more beautiful in life than a boy and girl clasping clean hands and pure hearts in the path to marriage? Can anything be more beautiful than young love?"

And the answer is given. "Yes, there is a more beautiful thing. It is the spectacle of an old man and an old women finishing their journey together on that path. Their hands are gnarled, but still clasped; their faces are seamed, but still radiant; their hearts are physically bowed and tired, but still strong with love and devotion for one another. Yes there is a more beautiful thing than young love. Old love."

Shirley (Fite) Dellinger '54

Thanksgiving Poem

When I was a young turkey, new to the coop,
My big brother Mike took me out on the stoop,

   
Then he sat me down, and he spoke real slow,
And he told me there was something that I had to know;

His look and his tone I will always remember,
When he told me of the horrors of..... Black November;

   
"Come about August, now listen to me,
Each day you'll get six meals instead of just three.
   
"And soon you'll be thick, where once you were thin,
and you'll grow a big rubbery thing under your chin;

   
"And then one morning, when you're warm in your bed, In'll burst the
farmer's wife, and hack off your head;
   
"Then she 'll pluck out all your feathers so you're bald 'n pink,
And scoop out all your insides and leave ya lyin' in the sink;

      
"And then comes the worst part" he said not bluffing,
"She'll spread your cheeks and pack your rear with stuffing."
    
Well, the rest of his words were too grim to repeat,
I sat on the stoop like a winged piece of meat,

       
And decided on the spot that to avoid being cooked,
I'd have to lay low and remain overlooked;
      
I began a new diet of nuts and granola,
High-roughage salads, juice and diet cola;

And as they ate pastries, chocolates and crepes,
I stayed in my room doing Jane Fonda tapes;
    
I maintained my weight of two pounds and a half,
And tried not to notice when the bigger birds laughed;

     
But 'twas I who was laughing, under my breath,
As they chomped and they chewed, ever closer to death;
      

And sure enough when Black November rolled around,
I was the last turkey left in the entire compound;
     
So now I'm a pet in the farmer's wife's lap;
I haven't a worry, so I eat and I nap;
     
She held me today, while sewing and humming,
And smiled at me and said "Christmas is coming..."
                           

Submitted by Carol (Kochman) Lewellen '73

Elwood In.

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