BESSIE ON THE FRONT PORCH

I see her sitting there,

an old woman on her front porch

or by her window, rocking in her rocking chair.

White haired, frail, and tiny,

eyes blue as they can be,

soft spoken, wise and giving,

Elizabeth O’Reilly, but folks call her Bessie.

She’s a pleasant, dear old lady,

just as sweet as she can be

and she always seems delighted

to have some company

when I stop by and sit a spell,

I think she’s quite lonely

and that Bessie spends a lot of time

living with her memories.

She’s outlived her husband and her children

and she’s almost ninety-three.

Bessie walks with a walker

and nurses visit her each day

but she says she’s doing pretty well

for a gal her age.

I enjoy visiting with her.

I think Bessie quite the sage,

full of wit and wisdom,

lots of history to tell

and she loves telling stories,

mind sharp, clear as a bell.

Bessie can remember

how life used to be before.

She married Bill, her sweetheart,

between the two world wars.

When she speaks of him her eyes light up.

She is proud he was a U.S. Sailor.

She’s been to California and Hawaii.

He served in the Pacific Theater

and they were living in Hawaii

when Pearl Harbor was bombed.

Soon after that he sent her and their two boys

back to her family’s farm

and she was with their third child,

a daughter, Jenny May, was born

while he fought in Japan.

First they’d had Roger William

and then a baby boy named Dan,

Daniel Joseph O’Reilly.

He gave his life in Nam.

Bessie speaks very proudly

when she speaks of Dan.

Their Roger died when he was just sixteen

in a logging accident.

Jenny died twelve years ago,

seven years of cancer

before her life was spent.

Her Bill, gone for more than twenty years,

and now Bessie is all alone

rocking on the front porch

of the place she calls home.

She has grandchildren and great-grandchildren

but they live nowhere near

and she only hears from them

maybe a couple times a year.

They are busy with their own lives

and life is not the same

but she has pictures of them

and speaks of each of them by name.

When Bill came home after the war