Those Were The Days Part 2

A Lovely Array

Down in the valley one morning

Amidst the overnight dew,

Some lovely flowers were gathered

From the soil in which they grew.

Each beautiful flower that morning

Appeared as if trying to say,

Do not neglect to place me

Somewhere in the lovely array.

The dew drops sparkled like diamonds

Out there in the summertime breeze,

Where I heard the voice of a Robin

Among the whispering leaves.

After the flowers were gathered

And placed in a nice array,

There were lots and lots of good wishes

Enclosed for a special day.

The beautiful flowers that morning

Out there in the summertime dew,

Were gathered for someone that's special

That someone special, was you.

Composed by

Peggy Korman

Peggy spent most of her day in an iron lung.  She suffered from debilitating migraines almost daily, but still she could whip out a poem faster than most could read the Saturday comics.  When I met Peggy I had written a few simple verses of poetry, and after a time I let her read my work.  I remember her beautiful face beaming up at me from the iron lung, she said "Dale, keep writing... don't ever stop."

So I did write -  more and more as the months and years rolled along.  Peggy always was my greatest inspiration and also my biggest critic.  

I admired her spirit, her passion and her determination, because while she would compose her verse in the quiet hours of her seclusion in the lung, she adamantly insisted that she also type the verse out herself.  

To do this Peggy had to be removed from the iron lung, or the rocking bed, and she had to have a chest respirator attached to her chest - sort of a portable lung, if you will.  But Peggy was completely paralyzed from the neck down - so her head was placed in a halo brace for stability, her manual typewriter was placed just so on her wheelchair tray, and a rubber-tipped stick was placed in her mouth.  

One letter at a time, she typed her words - perfectly spelled, perfectly formatted to the page, and perfectly written.  

She wrote the above poem for my 21st birthday - what an honour and today - what a treasure!

Thank you Peggy, for everything you taught me about, Poetry, human kindness... and life.