Song For Aunt Helen

Song For Aunt Helen

—On Her Eightieth Birthday

You set the whites out on the hedges

Pulling bleach down from the sun

Gooseberry pies cooled on the ledges

Each day sang its work hard won

You were the young and faithful daughter

Milking the cows, making the bread

Fetching the eggs, carrying water

Long after everything was said

All across the hayfields you did go

Taking the tea to feed the men

Season to season, fast or slow

Blackbird, robin, thrush or wren

Nieces and nephews near or far

Followed you about, cried on your shoulder

Horse and trap to bicycle and car

Summer came and found you older

And when the old ones passed away

Winter surrendered to the spring

The bitter cold gave up its coat of grey

And you untied your apron strings

Up to the capital you traveled

Searching for another way to live

Everything you knew had just unraveled

You wondered what you had to give

You crossed the wide Atlantic Ocean

Saying farewell to your beloved home

Ships and planes and trains, slow motion

Afraid you would forever roam

All across the city you did venture

Following your heart, your head, your hands

Making friends on your adventure

Setting roots down in new lands

How quickly now the fiddlers play

The ring upon your hand, the man close by

A tear of joy and love will have its day

And time will tell this story with a sigh

You are our wise and faithful aunt

Who’s given us so much and for so long

The one whose life says can! not can’t

The one for whom we sing this song