cedar sun memorial

Recorded July 15, 2010 at the memorial arbor vitae (cedar) planted at the time of my mother death on the tenth anniversary of her death. It was peaceful and quiet, a bird was singing, and the wind blew the cedar fragrance around.

Miriam Nancy Jean (nee) Summers died July 15, 2000. Four arbor vitae were planted for each of her adult children. They are part of a church arboreteum in Madison, Wisconsin. My mother loved the beauty of nature.This is a tribute to the beauty she taught me to see, hear, feel... It's only a few seconds are recorded as I recorded with the digital camera.

These cedars were planted ten years ago. They were barely knee high then.  Now, they are large enough to give me a hug.  Reflecting on the light filtering through the cedar branches, I was struck by the beauty. Sometimes it is in the diffused light, the filtered solar intent, that we can appreciate the source of life.  And, in this case, the maternal source of my own life.  After ten years, I miss her. I would not have wanted her to live the painful cancerous existence and delirum that was most of her final days, but sometimes I want to revert to a childhood moment when all I needed was my mother's attention.  I remember her motherly affection, her love and nuturance at the painful times that with a single hug and kiss, and maybe a sweet lullaby, the whole world with all its mean kids and skinned knees was safe.  She would beg her to sing a song that she learned from her grandmother (nee Morris), the Four Leaf Clover Song. My fondest memories are of this lullaby and my mother playing a n ylon stringed guitar and singing in her rich opera trained voice. I don't know if the song had another name, but we added it to her obituary ten years ago. I sung it to my son every night throughout his childhood - most of which he has known without his grandmother.     

FOUR LEAF CLOVER SONG

~ Irish Folk Song ~

Oh I know a place where the sun is like gold

And the cherry trees bloom like snow

And down underneath is the lovliest nook

Where the four leaf clovers grow

One leaf is for faith and one is for hope

One is for love, you know

But God put another there just for luck

If you look, you will find where they grow

But you must have faith and you must have hope

You must love and be kind and so

If you watch, if you wait, you will find the place

Where the four leaf clovers grow