Eye - 17 February 2012
From a song of living to an inspirational voice
A song of living
Many Friends are prompted by articles in the magazine to remember special moments or words from their lives. Patsy Robinson writes to Eye about her mother, Edna Eglinton, of Exmouth Meeting, who read the article ‘Are we afraid to die’ (3 February) and remembered a lovely poem by the American writer Amelia Josephine Burr.
Amelia Burr was born in New York and travelled widely, especially in the Orient, often writing of her travels in her poems. Edna recalls one of her poems, ‘A Song of Living’, and says it has inspired and cheered her over the years. It is a positive poem about death. The first verse conveys this sense well.
Because I have loved life,
I shall have no sorrow to die.
I have sent up my gladness on wings,
to be lost in the blue of the sky.
I have run and leaped with the rain.
I have taken the wind to my breast.
My cheek like a drowsy child
to the face of the earth I have pressed.
Because I have loved life,
I shall have no sorrow to die.
Tea and biscuits
Most Quaker gatherings end with refreshments… but they do things differently in Winchmore Hill Meeting, London.
Before holding special Meetings – designed to promote peace and harmony, personal growth and life-long learning – they have taken to serving tea. This is followed by a quiet time in remembrance of those in need. Forthcoming events include meetings on ‘Silence’ and ‘Our Relationship with Everything’ – including a good cuppa no doubt.
Eye is impressed with this brilliant tactic of tempting attenders with tea and biscuits upfront.
106 years young
Quakers are not great ones for awards and prizes. There are many Friends, though, in all parts of Britain who were delighted to hear the list of winners in the annual ‘Oldie of the Year awards’. The event was hosted by The Oldie Magazine recently in London.
Hetty Bower, the veteran peace campaigner, who many Friends have stood and walked beside over the years, was a very popular winner of the ‘campaigner of the year’ award. Hetty, who is now one-hundred-and-six, has been an inspiration to many. She marched in the Anti-war Mass Assembly in Trafalgar Square last October, putting youngsters like Tony Benn (in his eighties) to shame.
Hetty says that she plans to keep marching for peace as long as her legs hold out – or until our political leaders stop waging unjustified and immoral wars in other people’s countries. Her only complaint? That sometimes her fellow activists march a little too slowly!
Well done Hetty!
