What Will Your Verse Be?

Geek Girl and her amazing mom

My mom loved to enjoy life. She loved to travel, go to wine tastings, read a good book, enjoy good music, but when time allowed she loved to sneak off to the movies with me. One of her favorites was Dead Poets Society starring Robin Williams.

I found it a bit ironic, that while she was struggling this week after many health issues, I kept seeing the new Apple commercial that featured one of her favorite section of dialogue where Robin Williams’ character John Keating quotes Walt Whitman. It’s as though she has been sending me a message all week, to remind me that we are all important. We all have something important to contribute to our world.

We don’t read and write poetry because it’s cute. We read and write poetry because we are members of the human race. And the human race is filled with passion. And medicine, law, business, engineering – these are noble pursuits and necessary to sustain life. But poetry, beauty, romance, love – these are what we stay alive for.

To quote from Whitman,

“O me, O life of the questions of these recurring. Of the endless trains of the faithless. Of cities filled with the foolish. What good amid these, O me, O life? Answer: that you are here. That life exists and identity. That the powerful play goes on, and you may contribute a verse.”

“That the powerful play goes on, and you may contribute a verse.”

What will your verse be?

Today, I honor my mother’s life. She contributed quite a verse or two to the powerful play of life. She contributed many verses to my father’s life, my brother’s life, my life, and the lives of my children. She also impacted many lives through her years as a teacher. In the quiet hush of a chilly Western New York morning, she passed from this earth, placing a final signature on her verses.

I hope I can honor her always by remembering that I too am contributing my own verses, and I hope she is looking down smiling on how I finally figured out which verses were mine. I love you my beautiful, amazing, strong mom!

Here's the Apple Ad in case you've missed it. It will give you chills. I hope it inspires you to figure out what your verse will be.